The City of Windsor is getting a lot of help from Ottawa for its flood protection efforts.
The federal government is giving the city $32 million over ten years to help with flood prevention improvements, focusing on an area of east Windsor that was hard hit by flooding in 2017. The announcement was made Thursday morning at the St. Paul Pump Station. The money has been awarded to Windsor through the federal government's Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF).
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and Eglinton-Lawrence MP Marco Mendicino, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, announced the funding. With Windsor-Essex affected by several major weather events over the past few years, Mendicino said it's vital that adaptations be made.
"Climate change is real," said Mendicino. "It's kind of unfortunate that there are still some folks out there who seem to be disputing that, but the evidence is abundantly clear. When you see the impact of climate change on people's lives, it's really important that you have a federal government that is prepared to respond to this."
In addition to the $32 million allocated for flood improvements in east Windsor, the city has an additional $22 million already set aside for flood mitigation. The federal money will be spread out over ten years. Dilkens said the federal money would go toward specific tasks noted on a large chart that was displayed.
"The $32 million helps up fund 12 major components of this plan that will include improvements to this building, the St. Paul Pumping Station, and the East Marsh Pumping Station," said Dilkens. "It will add additional capacity and allow us to move more water quickly, faster."
City engineer Mark Winterton is thrilled with the news, which allows his department to move forward with laying out construction plans. He acknowledges that any improvements made are not necessarily foolproof, but residents are also doing their part to reduce the risk of devastating flooding.
"Part of our plan is to work with the homeowners, hence the basement flooding protection subsidy program," said Winterton. "That works a long way, working in partnership with the private side, with the homeowners and the major infrastructure that we're announcing today."
The city had applied with the DMAF and competed against hundreds of other applications from across the country. Windsor is receiving all of the funding it asked for, but Dilkens said the city must put together a total of $90 million to complete all 12 of the projects.
Windsor-Tecumseh MP Cheryl Hardcastle, left, Windsor West MP Brian Masse and Windsor city engineer Mark Winterton display a chart showing the flood relief work that will benefit from federal investment, at St. Paul Pumping Station in Windsor, April 18, 2019. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.