Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner released the following statement after the release of the province’s Flooding Strategy:

“I would take this strategy more seriously if the Minister had attached any funding to it.

But on the eve of another spring flooding season, the Minister has put out a bunch of flood mitigation ideas without any money to actually implement them.

This ignores the scientific reality that extreme flooding caused by climate change is on the rise and will continue to cost us.

The Ford government made communities more vulnerable when it axed funding for tree planting and slashed the flood mitigation budgets of conservation authorities.

The best thing we can do to limit the damage from flooding is protect natural green infrastructure like wetlands and forests.

Yet time and time again this government has poked holes in land use planning and opened the door to even more urban sprawl.

The government’s strategy rings hollow given all the ways they’ve undermined flood prevention efforts.”

source: media release, Green Party of Ontario