An Ottawa city councillor is calling on the provincial and federal governments for help to upgrade the city’s infrastructure, as municipal leaders gather in the capital for the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. The call comes after three damaging storms in roughly six weeks put renewed attention on Ottawa’s stormwater and wastewater systems during what is already the wettest summer on record. More than 510 millimetres of rain was recorded at the Ottawa International Airport between June 1 and Aug. 12, surpassing the previous June-to-August record of 464 millimetres set in 1972. The Canada Day storm alone led to more than 6,000 reports of basement flooding, while subsequent storms brought additional flooding, downed trees and widespread power outages. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney says the frequency of severe weather means the city needs to reconsider infrastructure built around historical weather patterns. “The one in 100-year storm is happening every second year now, and we’re seeing the impacts a lot in Ottawa,” Tierney told CTV News Ottawa. “We have to look at retrofitting and changing how we process water and wastewater and reevaluating on a more regular basis.” Tierney says that could include reconsidering how stormwater is stored and drained, along with replacing aging underground infrastructure with greater capacity. “No one’s here looking for pretty things. They want the non-sexy underground infrastructure,” he said. “[The government] wants housing. We want to provide it, but we need the infrastructure to do it.” Infrastructure funding is among the issues being raised with provincial and federal officials as municipal leaders from across Ontario gather in Ottawa for the AMO conference. On Sunday, the Ontario and federal governments announced up to $1 billion to help municipalities in the province to build infrastructure for more homes, but specified the money will go to communities that do not collect development charges. Tierney says municipalities are increasingly being left to deal with the costs associated with flooding, erosion, and other extreme weather, but don’t have the money to tackle those challenges. “We’ve seen a lot of devastation, whether it’s wildfires, flooding or erosion,” Tierney said. “These are all the things that municipalities are stuck on their doorstep to deal with, but we don’t have the money to go along with it.” Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack did not announce any new storm-resilience funding specifically for Ottawa on Sunday, but said the province has programs in place and is open to hearing what more municipalities need. “It’s been a really, really tough summer on a lot of people, municipalities,” Flack said. “We’ve got programs in place. But obviously, I know I’ll be sitting down with Minister [Todd] McCarthy and our team. We’re always open and willing again to listen and learn.” At the federal level, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Jennifer McKelvie pointed to the $51 billion Build Communities Strong Fund as one potential source of help. McKelvie said the fund offers several streams for municipalities, with some eligibility for stormwater infrastructure. “We recognize that from coast to coast to coast, municipalities are very unique. They have different challenges,” McKelvie said. “We wanted to provide the maximum flexibility so that they could identify their priorities and work toward solutions that work for them.” Tierney says addressing the challenge will ultimately require cooperation between all levels of government. “We need some standard processes across the country, and that’s why we’re talking to ministers today,” Tierney said. “We have to come together. That’s the only thing that’s going to make this all work.” Premier Doug Ford and Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe are scheduled to address delegates at the AMO conference on Monday.
