Canada’s climate adaptation deficit

By Blair Feltmate 

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But despite [its] praiseworthy commitments, we must ask whether Canada is adapting fast enough to keep pace with the growing challenges of climate change. In other words, is Canada’s adaptation deficit growing? Three extreme weather challenges drew attention during 2018 — flooding, extreme heat and forest fires — and this article looks at these events in light of this adaption deficit.

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It is apparent that, relative to flood risk, Canada’s adaptation deficit is growing. However, Canada is neither complacent nor idle in efforts to reverse this trend. With support from the National Research Council and the Standards Council of Canada, a new Canadian Standards Association residential basement flood risk guideline was released in 2018. This guideline will assist home inspectors and buyers to identify and correct deficiencies that might otherwise result in basement flooding. Additionally, two other new guidelines will be released in 2019. The first will focus on flood risk mitigation applied to new community development, and the second will address best practices to lower flood risk in existing communities.

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Regarding heat risk, Canada’s adaptation preparedness is already in deficit. What does the future portend for extreme heat events? For the Greater Toronto Area, for example, Toronto’s Future Weather and Climate Driver Study (2012) made the following projections: over the period 2010 to 2040, maximum daily temperature will increase from 37°C to 44°C, the number of hot days (over 30°C) per summer will increase from 22 to 65, and heat waves (three consecutive days in excess of 30°C) will increase from 0.6 to 2.5 per season.

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Finally, forest fires scorched large swaths of Canada in 2018, particularly in Ontario and British Columbia. Such large-scale fires are not new, as seen in Fort McMurray in 2016, and prior to that in Slave Lake in 2011. Recognizing that fire in forested communities is both pervasive and life threatening, preparedness to limit fire risk is paramount.

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