Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered the 2023 federal budget on March 28. While most measures that caught the headlines were focused on cost-of-living relief, Budget 2023 was the most significant freshwater budget in decades. This is what we know so far:
- Creation of a Canada Water Agency (CWA)
- The federal government has confirmed that the CWA will be a stand-alone entity that reports to a Minister. The government also confirmed that the agency will be located in Winnipeg.
- The CWA will receive $85.1 million over five years, which is a significant increase from the $43.5 million over five years proposed for the agency in the 2022 Budget.
- The agency will be created through legislation, which is expected to be introduced by the end of the year. In the meantime, the agency will get up and running as a branch within Environment and Climate Change Canada. The CWA transition office will become the interim CWA team to establish the structure of the new agency.
- Investment in priority watersheds
- Budget 2023 committed $650 million over 10 years for priority watersheds that include the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, St. Lawrence River, Fraser River, Saint John River, Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe.
- Of the $650 million, $420 million will go towards cleaning up and restoring the Great Lakes. More specifically, the funding will help to clean up 12 areas of concern, reduce nutrients and contaminants entering the Great Lakes, and engage with Indigenous peoples. This is in addition to $80 million in base funding for the Great Lakes, which brings the total to $500 million over 10 years.
- This money will flow through the Freshwater Action Plan budget. The original Liberal campaign promise for the Freshwater Action Plan was $1 billion, so this is a significant down payment towards that amount.
- Freshwater science coordination
- Budget 2023 committed $22 million over three years towards freshwater science coordination. There are few details on this so far.
- Climate and flood risk
- Budget 2023 offers some assistance to households in high flood-risk areas that cannot get insurance. The federal government committed $31.7 million over three years to create a low-cost flood insurance program. It also committed $15.3 million over three years for a public online portal that will help Canadian access information about their exposure to flooding.
CWN thanks and congratulates the Government of Canada for this significant investment in freshwater protection and resilience.
For more information about Budget 2023, visit the Smart Prosperity Institute’s website and Nos eaux vitals website.