Opinion: Homeowners pay heavy price for weather disasters; need to build more resilient communities
Extreme weather is making its mark on Alberta again this year. Communities evacuated. Structures destroyed by wildfire. Numerous hail and severe storm warnings.
Article content
All this, and summer has yet to officially begin.
Article content
Article content
Long a fact of life in Alberta, severe weather is getting worse and our communities are not resilient enough to withstand the damage it is causing. That must change, fast.
Article content
Article content
The numbers are clear. Alberta has averaged at least one major hailstorm per year for the past two decades, causing a total of $11 billion in insured losses — $3.2 billion from last year's Calgary hailstorm alone. Add in floods, wildfires and windstorms, and that number explodes to more than $22 billion (adjusted for inflation).
Article content
Article content
Alberta has suffered five of the 10 costliest severe weather events in Canadian history, so it's no wonder our province is increasingly known as the 'Disaster Capital of Canada.'
Article content
As insurance claims rise, there is an effect on insurance costs. Amid calls for action, the solution is clear — we must properly invest in making our homes, businesses and communities more resilient against severe weather.
Alberta's insurers will pay out $4.4 billion in insured losses for last year's Jasper wildfire and Calgary hailstorm. That's more than the federal government has spent on adaptation investments over the past decade. Specifically, the federal government has invested $41.8 billion in long-term emissions-reduction measures, but only $4.1 billion on efforts to make communities more resilient.
Article content
Article content
Just this week, the federal auditor general issued a scathing report on the poor implementation and underfunding of Canada's National Adaptation Strategy.
Article content
It's paramount that we start treating severe weather as a question of when, not if, and act accordingly. This will require everyone — insurers, homeowners and governments — to do their part.
Article content
Canada's insurance industry is doing what it can to drive adaptation efforts. Many insurers reward homeowners who make upgrades with discounts or coverage that helps offset the added cost of resilient materials.
Article content
Many insurers provide fire mitigation services to their customers and assist with grants aimed at improving flood and wildfire resilience. The industry also provides millions of dollars annually to the Alberta Hail Suppression Project.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Sun
20 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Air Canada starts cancelling flights ahead of potential work stoppage
Published Aug 13, 2025 • Last updated 2 minutes ago • 1 minute read Air Canada flight attendants at YYC in Calgary picket working conditions on Monday, August 11, 2025. Photo by Darren Makowichuk / Postmedia MONTREAL — Air Canada says it will begin a gradual suspension of flights to allow an orderly shutdown as it faces a potential work stoppage by its flight attendants on Saturday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The airline says the first flights will be cancelled Thursday, with more on Friday and a complete cessation of flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge by the weekend. Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz and PAL Airlines will continue to operate as normal. Air Canada says customers whose flights are cancelled will be notified and they will be eligible for a full refund. The company also says it has made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers alternative travel options to the extent possible. The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice. On Tuesday, Air Canada said it had reached an impasse with the union as the two sides remained far apart in contract talks. The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants' 'poverty wages' and unpaid labour when planes aren't in the air. Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Toronto Blue Jays Opinion Toronto & GTA
Ottawa Citizen
20 minutes ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Smith: Successful Canadian defence procurement will require bold decision-makers
Article content With Canada poised to establish the Canadian Defence Procurement Agency (CDPA), a centralized, single‑agency structure headquartered under the authority of the newly appointed Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr, we would do well to remember that people matter more than process. Article content The CDPA will fail if it is run by the same risk-averse decision-makers previously charged with defence procurement. Success will require people who are sufficiently bold – unrelenting, uncompromising, unapologetic – to do the hard things that will enable the Canadian Armed Forces to rapidly prepare for 21st century conflict. Article content Article content Article content Canada needs its own John Boyd. Article content U.S. Col. John Boyd wasn't a four-star general or a high-level appointee. He was a fighter pilot and theorist, famously abrasive, often marginalized, but ultimately indispensable. He created the OODA loop (Observe–Orient–Decide–Act), revolutionizing military doctrine worldwide. Article content He pioneered Energy-Maneuverability Theory, quantifying fighter jet design, enabling him and his band of misfits, the so-called 'Fighter Mafia,' to challenge design orthodoxy, ultimately leading to the development of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the most successful and prolific jets in aviation history. Article content Boyd's impact wasn't born of title. It came from being intellectually relentless and morally uncompromising. He didn't lobby for marginal improvements. He demanded paradigm shifts. And in doing so, he exposed inefficiencies, challenged entrenched interests, and catalyzed change from within one of the most rigid bureaucracies in the world: the Pentagon. Article content Canadians can turn to our own history to find something of an analogue. Clarence Decatur Howe, an American by birth, known as the 'Minister of Everything,' is considered Canada's most influential industrialist. Tasked with rapidly mobilizing Canadian industry for war, he ultimately created 28 Crown Corporations, covering everything from shipbuilding to aircraft, rubber, and synthetic fuels. Article content Article content C.D. Howe is a giant of Canadian history, and for good reason. His ability to bypass slow, consensus-based systems in favour of speed, clarity, and operational outcomes is legendary. Article content But unlike Boyd the insider, Howe was an outsider appointed to the role and vested with an incredible amount of authority, which he wielded unapologetically. Howe famously said: 'If it is expedient for the government to do something, then I think it is right.' This earned him admiration, but also the label of authoritarian. Article content Howe and Boyd may have differed in status and power, but they were aligned in their focus, both prioritizing outcomes over popularity. Article content At a time when Canada's defence procurement system is slow and fragmented, dominated by a risk-averse culture that delays capability while threats accelerate, Canada is once again in need of that same decisive energy. Article content Recognizing this crisis of speed and coherence, the Carney government has announced the planned creation of the CDPA. Consolidating powers previously split among multiple departments, the CDPA is intended to streamline decision‑making, reduce duplicative bureaucracy, and accelerate contract execution. Article content The establishment of the CDPA will serve as a litmus test. Is Canada's procurement failure rooted in flawed policy, or in a bureaucratic culture unwilling to embrace risk? A new mandate alone will not transform the system if those executing it remain tethered to the same institutional caution. True reform will require individuals willing to challenge orthodoxy even when it carries political cost, those who will reject legacy processes and bloated vendor ecosystems in favour of speed, survivability and sovereign capability. Article content Article content There are also legitimate concerns about centralizing defence procurement, particularly in a town like Ottawa that has failed time and again to rethink defence and procurement. But maybe this is the Canadian way. Perhaps Canada requires someone like an empowered Secretary of State Fuhr, a former fighter pilot himself, who acting like a Howe, can make room for the Boyds. Article content With sufficient authority, Fuhr can do more than cut through red tape. He can cultivate the conditions for a culture of well-meaning risk taking to take root. Perhaps then the Canadian 'Drone Mafia' can emerge – a paradigm shifting band of misfits and believers who care more about equipping Canadian soldiers with emerging capabilities than they do about their reputations and promotions. Article content Boyd said it best: 'You can be somebody, or you can do something.' Canada needs someone who will do something. Someone willing to be scorned in the committee room to deliver speed in the battlespace. Will we empower individuals willing to speak uncomfortable truths, break the mold, and act with urgency? Or will we fall back on process, defaulting once again to the slow death of incrementalism? Article content
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Doug Ford teases new details of Ontario's $5B tariff response plan
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government appears poised to announce details of how it will bail out tariff-hit businesses as opposition politicians demand a cohesive and urgent plan. On Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is scheduled to hold a news conference alongside Vic Fedeli, the trade minister. At an unrelated event the day before, Ford appeared to tease details of what the pair would unveil. 'We're releasing another $5 billion. I think we're going to start a billion tomorrow and then just keep adding,' the premier said in Windsor, Ont. 'We're going to focus on helping small businesses, we're going to really focus on the auto sector and the steel sector, they're the ones that are really getting hit the hardest. So we're rolling out the money — and I won't hesitate to keep rolling it out.' Story continues below advertisement Ford appeared to be referencing the $5 billion Protecting Ontario Account, which was announced as part of his government's 2025 election platform and the budget that followed. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy When it was announced, the government's financial blueprint explained that the Protecting Ontario Account was designed to work together with tariff measures introduced by the federal government. It would include 'up to $1 billion in immediate liquidity relief aimed at protecting Ontario businesses and workers facing significant tariff-related business disruptions,' the budget said. Officials described it as 'an emergency backstop for Ontario businesses that have exhausted available funding.' Despite announcing the fund as part of its budget in May, the government has provided few details of how it will work and whether it has been used, even as tariffs bite. United States President Donald Trump has had levies in place for some time on Canadian steel and aluminum, also adding 35 per cent tariffs on all goods not covered by a trade deal between the two countries at the beginning of August. Opposition politicians said the Ford government was taking too long to stimulate the economy. 'Our economy is already taking a big hit with Trump's most recent tariff hike on all Canadian goods to 35 per cent,' NDP MPP Catherine Fife said in a statement. Story continues below advertisement 'Despite growing economic uncertainty and ongoing job losses, we still don't have a plan from the Premier to protect workers and create good jobs. In order to weather this 'Trump Storm,' we must strategically invest in our auto sector and fight to keep these good, stable jobs in Ontario.'
