Tell BC: Fund local climate disaster prevention

The province of BC is cutting funding for local climate and wildfire preparedness programs and failing to implement critical flood mitigation strategies — at a time when climate impacts are intensifying. Tell the BC government to spend what is required to keep our communities safe from the increasing threats of climate change.

The Province must:

• reinstate and expand the Local Government Climate Action Program (LGCAP),
• fund implementation of the flood management strategy, and
• commit to long term FireSmart funding

Our communities are facing devastating climate risks – and hidden costs as climate change drives up grocery bills and insurance premiums. Record-high temperatures this year, with dangerously low snowpack levels in much of the province, is putting us on a path to a summer of heat, fire, and drought.

Local governments can take action to protect our communities and keep critical infrastructure running in this warming world – but lack the resources to do so. And rather than helping, the BC government is pulling back funding that could help keep us and our neighbours safe.

This spring BC quietly removed funding to the Local Government Climate Action Program (LGCAP) – one of the key sources for climate action by local governments. At the same time, FireSmart funding, always over-subscribed, ran dry. The provincial government has developed a Flood Management Strategy – but it sits on a shelf, with the government refusing to fund its implementation, despite the billions of dollars in flood damage BC has seen in recent years.

These programs reduce risk before disaster strikes.

Studies have shown that when prevention and adaptation funding disappears, costs compound. Disaster recovery costs are rising sharply year over year, and we’ll stand to lose billions of dollars if we don’t invest in our communities to prepare against climate change

Local governments own and maintain 60% of Canada’s infrastructure but only receive 8% of our tax dollars. With the depletion and discontinuation of provincial funding for FireSmart and LGCAP, it means our communities are left to shoulder the costs to keep ourselves safe.

We need the provincial government to spend what is required to keep our communities safe. 

Take action now to tell your MLA, and the relevant Ministers: Keeping us safe from climate change is the priority.

The question is simple: Will communities be left to shoulder these costs alone—or will we align funding, accountability, and the climate reality to keep our communities safe?