The House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development met to study extreme weather events and their impacts on housing affordability, insurance, and community resilience. Witnesses included Janice Myers from the Canadian Real Estate Association, Duncan Redfearn from the City of Grand Forks, Spencer Coyne, Mayor of Princeton, Kiera Taylor from Investors for Paris Compliance, and Alain Bourque from Ouranos.
Janice Myers described how climate-related disasters are disrupting real estate transactions, causing insurance premiums to spike by up to 30% and leaving some buyers unable to obtain coverage, which can freeze local markets and devalue properties. She recommended a national flood insurance program, possibly extended to wildfire zones, along with tax incentives or rebates for resilient home upgrades like metal roofs or back-flow valves, and called for better national hazard mapping to support accurate risk assessment.
Duncan Redfearn detailed Grand Forks' 2018 flood and its $72-million mitigation program, which used managed retreat to buy 90 properties and build 3,000 metres of flood protection, reducing evacuation numbers from 800 to 250. He recommended that federal disaster funding be front-loaded, allow acquisition of both land and improvements, include equitable compensation for homeowners, and support community capacity building for project management and planning.
Spencer Coyne emphasized that local governments are already implementing place-based solutions like FireSmart assessments and flood-resistant building codes, but need a dedicated national fund outside existing programs to rebuild and keep communities together. He called for an all-hazards guaranteed insurance program, noting that wildfire insurance denials are now spreading, and urged that relocation programs preserve neighbourhoods and homeowner equity, with local governments as full partners.
Kiera Taylor argued that rising insurance costs and uninsured losses from extreme weather are hitting households and taxpayers, and that cost recovery from major emitters—similar to tobacco and opioid litigation—is needed to fund adaptation and stabilize the insurance system. She noted that some U.S. states have enacted climate damage legislation and that insurers themselves often continue to invest in fossil fuels, creating a contradiction in their risk management.
Alain Bourque stated that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather across Canada, and that every dollar invested in adaptation can save $13 to $15 in future costs. He recommended proactive measures such as updated building codes, land-use planning that avoids high-risk areas, and nature-based solutions, and stressed that adaptation is a shared responsibility requiring coordinated federal, provincial, and municipal action, with science-based tools already available but underused.
The committee also heard from members who questioned witnesses on topics such as the accuracy of national flood mapping, the role of developers in building resilient homes, and the feasibility of cost recovery from polluters. No procedural motions or votes were recorded during this meeting.
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