This week I wrote the Prime Minister to ask that victims of the recent highwater levels in the Great Lakes and Ottawa River watersheds be fairly compensated by the federal government.
For the second time in three years, many communities and businesses in the Ottawa River and Great Lakes watersheds are experiencing flooding due to record-high water levels.
Property owners, already out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars repairing their properties in 2017, now face the same situation in 2019.
While provincial authorities are providing partial assistance to flood victims, there is a cap on losses.
Those provincial programs discriminate between residents of different provinces and the types of dwellings.
As boundary waters, the Great Lakes and the Ottawa River fall under federal jurisdiction.
The federal government even owns one of the dams along the Ottawa River.
The Federal Government should have realized before it signed Plan 2014 on December 8th, 2016, that raising the water levels in the Great Lakes Watershed could affect the Ottawa River flow.
Three months later in 2017 the Ottawa River set high-water level records.
Regular flooding is intended by this government as it implements “environmental flows”, and the re-creation of wetlands for its government climate change policy.
As a consequence of amendments made to the Fisheries Act, contained in Bill C-68, spring flooding will be intentional to restore fish habitat.
Of the 7 members on the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB), 3 are appointed by the Federal Government.
They should have been aware of the danger posed by these Trudeau Liberal policies.
These changes are quite apart from the massive snowpack and likelihood of continued rains in the spring.
Yet, rather than acting, the ORRPB continued the status quo, resulting in more flooding and more property damage along the Ottawa River.
The federal government must adopt a fairer course to ensure the protection of the public on both sides of the Ottawa River as well as the Great Lakes watershed, are the highest priority.
Please, join me in calling on the Prime Minister to do the right thing and provide federal compensation to all the victims of highwater caused by federal policies.