Toronto MP presents petition demanding more federal funding for sewers

A Toronto-area member of parliament presented Monday a petition in Ottawa asking the federal government for more funding for sewer systems.

“Residents in my community of York South-Weston who endured terrible flooding last July 8, in part caused by inadequate and antiquated sewers, have signed a petition calling on the Government of Canada to immediately take steps to fund urgent infrastructure projects in order to upgrade our sewer systems and avoid future property damage,” Mike Sullivan, the New Democratic Party MP for York South-Weston, said in the House of Commons.

The July 8 storm was the third-costliest natural disaster in Canadian history (next to the June 2013 floods in Alberta and the 1998 ice storm), when measured by insured losses of at least $850 million.

Sullivan’s riding is in within the Toronto city limits, south of Highway 401 and east of the Humber River.

That area “was hit very, very hard” by the July 8 storm, a spokesperson for Sullivan told Canadian Underwriter. In some neighbourhoods of Sullivan’s riding “people suffered great loss of personal property.”

Toronto got 126mm of rain on July 8, 2013, according to Environment Canada, while the normal rainfall for the city for the entire month of July is 74.4 mm.

A report submitted last year to Toronto City Council suggested that by 2040, the maximum amount of rainfall in summer storms per hour would increase to 166 mm, up from 66 mm in the 2000 to 2009 time frame. That report, completed by SENES Consultants Ltd. and commissioned by the Toronto Environment office, projects climate patterns for Toronto for 2040-49.

“The operation of critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, water treatment plants, sewers and culverts, public transport and roads are sensitive to particular temperature and weather thresholds,” according to the report, titled Toronto’s Future Weather and Climate Driver Study: Outcomes Report. “Beyond these thresholds infrastructure may have reduced capacity or may not function at all.”

The petition Sullivan submitted to the House of Commons states: “We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who ask the Government of Canada to immediately take action necessary to fund urgent municipal infrastructure projects to prevent property damage such as that suffered by the residents of the City of Toronto on July 8th 2013.”

About 1,000 people have signed the petition so far, Sullivan’s spokesperson said.

As of Monday, Sullivan had tabled three sets of petitions to the House of Commons.

“Due to the ultimate failure of the City of Toronto sewers resident basements were turned into holding tanks for sewage and storm water,” the petition stated. “The current state of York South-Weston sewers are inadequate and must be upgraded to ensure this never happens again.”