WHEREAS the Town of Oakville received a large amount of rain on July 15-16, 2024, where flooding occurred in several areas that damaged town infrastructure;
WHEREAS the Town of Oakville has experienced, and will continue to experience, significant weather-related events or disasters triggered by climate change, such as the record-setting high lake levels, shoreline erosion and flooding of our parks and trails, such as we experienced in 2017 and 2019;
WHEREAS the Town of Oakville has declared a climate emergency and recognizes that severe rainfall events can cause property damage, put public safety at risk, destroy natural habitat and ecosystems, and have a harmful effect on the environment;
WHEREAS Oakville has completed several climate change flood risk-related studies and identified over $400 million in infrastructure improvements to increase resiliency and reduce the risk of flooding from more intense storm events;
WHEREAS Oakville requires financial assistance to invest in costly natural and structural infrastructure projects that will help increase the resiliency of our community resulting from climate change; and
WHEREAS Oakville has been continuously unsuccessful in obtaining funds through the Government of Canada’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF);
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Mayor, on behalf of Council, write to the Provincial and Federal governments to request consistent and reliable funding to support municipalities in responding to infrastructure needs associated with climate change.