Ottawa announces flood protection funding for small Ontario municipalities

The Ontario and federal governments announced Friday they will fund projects designed to reduce flood risk and help treat “environmentally harmful liquids” in small municipalities south of Sudbury.

Both governments announced Friday funding for 13 projects under the Small Communities Fund, which makes available money for projects such as disaster mitigation and brownfield redevelopment.

In the Municipality of French River, southeast of Sudbury, the Ontario and federal governments say they will provide $250,328 each to “install a litter fence and automated gate systems and construct a storm water management pond to reduce the risk of flooding.”

In Killarney, south of Sudbury, the Small Communities Fund will provide $276,512 each from the Ontario and federal governments to “expand a local landfill site and install a new system to collect and treat environmentally harmful liquids.”

The work in Killarney “will help mitigate waste disposal-related environmental impacts,” the federal department of infrastructure and communities stated in a backgrounder.

“The governments of Canada and Ontario are announcing funding for 13 projects in communities across the province under the New Building Canada Plan’s Small Communities Fund (SCF),” Infrastructure Canada stated Friday. “This is in addition to the 78 projects already identified under the SCF in Ontario.”

Of the SCF projects approved to date in Ontario, “six are related to flood protection and/or disaster mitigation, and at least 15 address pollution-related concerns (waste- and storm water, for example),” a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of economic development, employment and infrastructure stated in an e-mail to Canadian Underwriter.

Under SCF, the federal government is pledging $1 billion for projects in municipalities with fewer than 100,000 residents.

Friday’s announcement was made in Thunder Bay by Michael Gravelle, Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines, and by federal status of women Patricia Hajdu, on behalf of federal infrastructure and communities minister Amarjeet Sohi.

That announcement came two days after Infrastructure Canada and the New Brunswick government announced they would provide $379,547 towards projects in the Village of Gagetown. Those projects include replacing all existing sub-surface storm drains in the downtown and main tourism area, building three larger storm water outlets and building a diversion pond. The Village of Gagetown is on the Saint John River east of Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.

PHOTO: Tracy Morrison, Councillor, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation; Michael Gravelle, Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines; and Patricia Hajdu, Minister of Status of Women. The three were on hand March 18 in Thunder Bay to announced funding under the Small Communities Fund. Photo courtesy of Infrastructure Canada.