Crumbling infrastructure puts essential weather forecasting at risk: report

MIKE DE SOUZA
Postmedia News

The federal government says that a two-year, $27-million investment announced in its budget will address dire warnings about unreliable infrastructure plaguing its weather service and forecasts.

The funding boost comes as a new report suggests that essential federal weather forecasting services are in jeopardy because of rising costs, budget cuts and outdated infrastructure.

The planning and priorities document, tabled in Parliament by Environment Minister Peter Kent, noted that weather information is essential for protecting public safety and the economy, but that the department faces “challenges” in developing a plan that would address the risks which also threaten its ability to make sound decisions when it comes to protecting the environment.

“The increasingly frequent and severe weather events compounded by the rapid evolution of monitoring, detection and communications technology is placing more pressure than ever before on an aging capital asset infrastructure,” said the report, which outlines Environment Canada’s spending plans over the next year.

“Consequently, there is a risk that the department’s capital assets, in particular the atmospheric and hydrologic monitoring infrastructure, weather radars, super-computer and fleet may become unreliable or costly to maintain.”

The warnings follow the release of an internal Environment Canada report last summer which slammed what it described as a “profoundly disturbing” quality of information in the federal climate data network that was putting the department “on the road to junior partner status with respect to other agencies, both provincial and international.”

Canada’s auditor general has also taken the department to task over the quality of its severe weather warnings.

The cuts at Environment Canada’s network can be traced back to the 1990s when the former Liberal government started slashing costs as part of its plans to slay the deficit.

The new report also suggested that the existing fiscal situation faced by the Conservative government, which is pledging to slash billions as part of a new effort to balance the budget, has already put “pressure” on Environment Canada to meet its existing obligations to protect clean water and species at risk, as well as enforcing environmental laws and regulations.

“The risk is that the effectiveness of Environment Canada’s decision-makers in managing the department’s resources may be negatively impacted,” said Kent’s report.

The report stressed the importance of protecting weather monitoring and forecasting services in the context of a changing climate that threatens critical infrastructure and activities across the country on a regular basis.

“Every day, Canadians are affected by changes in environmental and weather conditions, such as variability and extremes in climate, temperature, precipitation, winter storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, air quality, sea ice, road icing and aircraft turbulence,” said the report.

“Canadians consistently rate weather forecasts as one of the top pieces of information that they look for daily to help plan their activities.”

Senior department officials had said last summer that Environment Canada was trying to “focus” its resources on the highest risks such as its severe weather-warning program to ensure timely and accurate warnings of significant hazards.

But the report suggested that the department must develop a new strategy to protect these essential services, and is working on a plan to do so with existing resources and through new partnerships with other stakeholders, including some from the private sector.

“Rapidly escalating costs, advances in technology, and hazards ranging from extreme weather to pandemics provide constant challenges to this service requirement,” said the report. “Consequently, there is a risk that Environment Canada may be unable to continue to provide critical services in a timely, co-ordinated and effective manner.”