Trudeau says government should rethink infrastructure funding in wake of wildfires

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government needs to reexamine the way it funds infrastructure projects as Canada’s worst wildfire season on record continues.

Wildfires have forced thousands of people in B.C. and the Northwest Territories to leave their homes in recent weeks.

Trudeau was in B.C.’s Central Okanagan region on Friday to meet with local leaders and firefighters after rainy conditions helped curb wildfires that have been devastating the region.

During a press conference, the prime minister was asked if the government should provide more predictable funding for disaster resilient infrastructure rather than using a grant-based model.

“I think we need to start looking at that around emergencies, we certainly need to look at that around infrastructure investments,” Trudeau replied.

“This is something with which we are fully seized and our minister of infrastructure, among others, will be fully engaged with. And I look forward to continuing to work closely with provincial and municipal leaders in a collaborative way to respond to these challenges.”

Many of the infrastructure projects the federal government funds are paid for through grants for which municipalities must apply.

WATCH | Trudeau asked about infrastructure funding:

Such grant programs can be highly competitive. The Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF), for example, was running short on money despite not being set to expire until the 2030s. The government topped up the fund last fall.

Launched in 2018, DMAF offers grants to municipalities, provinces, territories and Indigenous communities to cover a portion of costs for disaster-resilience infrastructure projects.

Jason Thistlethwaite of the University of Waterloo studies climate change adaptation and risk mitigation. He said programs like DMAF can be biased toward larger jurisdictions with more capacity to complete applications.

“The money is going to go to the best grant-writer, whichever city has the most capacity to write a grant,” he said. “The problem with that is that it’s not necessarily risk-based, meaning that the money going out isn’t necessarily going to the communities that need it the most.”

N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane told CBC Radio’s The Current on Friday that she’s done “begging” for federal help to fill the infrastructure gaps that have made it harder to get people to safety.

“We have been asking the federal government to address our infrastructure gaps for decades,” Cochrane told guest host Susan Bonner.

“It angered me that we have been pleading and begging to have the same infrastructure that people in the south take for granted. Not extra, just basic infrastructure.”

Wildfires knocked out communications to several N.W.T. communities in recent weeks, leaving residents without the internet, phone and cell services they need to stay informed about the evolving emergency. As a wildfire approached the small community of Kakisa, residents received an evacuation order via letter.

When the city of Yellowknife was given an evacuation order last week, many residents left the city via Highway 3, the only highway in or out of the community. Had the fires reached that vital artery, it might not have served as an escape route.

Asked Friday about Cochrane’s comments, Trudeau acknowledged the infrastructure challenges the territory faces. He pointed to Highway 3 as an example.

“Within two days they’d evacuated close to 20,000 people in a very effective way and that’s, as you say, not a credit to great infrastructure … it’s a credit to community members and individuals and people and frontline support workers helping out and making sure that it all happened effectively,” he said.

The prime minister said he would continue conversations with the territorial government about infrastructure gaps.

“That’s part of the reflections we have to have going forward on how we can make sure that we have even more resilient communities,” he said.

Thistlethwaite said the federal government has the capacity to identify high-risk areas and should provide stable funding for those communities.

“Those communities should have funding that’s automatically available for them,” he said. “You effectively use the science to guide the fiscal resources of the federal government rather than the politics, or who has the loudest voice.”

Trudeau’s comments come as the federal government is sending more armed forces members to assist with firefighting efforts in B.C.

“In response to the relentless wildfires, we received and approved an additional Request for Assistance from the Government of British Columbia,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan said a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“[Canadian Armed Forces] members will be there to assist the province with firefighting operations.”