Vote Yes
An Act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting
This bill strengthens Canada’s resilience to floods and droughts by coordinating advanced forecasting, which supports productivity, investment, and public safety. Its impact depends on execution speed and lean governance, as the bill mandates a strategy rather than delivery.
Given escalating flood and drought losses, why is the government allowing up to two years just to table a strategy, and will the minister commit to a 12-month deadline with public quarterly milestones?
What is the projected budget and timeline to stand up the proposed national hydrological forecasting service, and what measurable outcomes—like forecast lead-time improvements and reduced disaster costs—will be achieved by when?
How will the strategy avoid duplicating provincial systems and instead deliver interoperable, open data and APIs that provinces, Indigenous governments, farmers, and insurers can use in real time while protecting privacy and cybersecurity?
Stronger flood and drought forecasting can reduce disaster losses, protect agriculture and infrastructure, and improve economic resilience—supporting long-run prosperity.
National coordination and modern tools could break silos, but the bill only mandates a strategy with a two-year runway and no regulatory simplification, risking delay.
Better hazard intelligence reduces downtime and supply-chain disruptions for farms and firms and leverages Canadian forecasting expertise, bolstering competitiveness.
Any boost to exports would be indirect (e.g., exporting forecasting tools); the bill contains no explicit export measures.
Improved risk visibility de-risks capital allocation in agriculture, energy, and infrastructure and encourages adoption of novel forecasting technologies.
A unified service could reduce duplication and deliver economies of scale, but governance, costs, and accountability are undefined and could add a layer if not executed lean.
No tax provisions are affected.
The envisioned national service is potentially transformative, but the bill stops at a strategy and has a long timeline, muting immediate, large-scale impact.
Did we get the builder vote wrong?
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