delta coun. dylan kruger, who is also chairman of the metro vancouver flood resiliency committee, said given that it’s an election year, he had hoped to “see something about not only responding to disasters but a proactive approach” for mitigating disasters, including needed upgrades to dike infrastructure.
“the reality is that cities can’t deliver multi-billion flood resiliency upgrades on their own,” he said. “we need sustained annual grant funding from the provincial government for flood resiliency, especially in agricultural communities like mine.”
tamsin lyle, a flood management specialist and principal at ebbwater consulting, agreed, describing the budget as merely “holding the line.”
“there’s nothing amazing in there when it comes to flood or climate or disaster resiliency, maybe except on the wildfire side.”
beyond dike upgrades, lyle would like to see land-use changes to restrict building in flood plains and wildfire-interface zones and changes to building codes to make buildings more resilient to hazards.
tyrone mcneil, president and tribal chief of the stó:lō tribal council, said he was disappointed with the budget. the province, he said, needs to embrace a mindset of “resilience over protection.”