Ottawa officials helping Ontario develop plan to combat future flooding

City of Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson described a closed door meeting with provincial and industry officials as a “frank discussion of some of the challenges we face,” when it comes to flooding in the capital region.

The meeting happened Friday morning. It was organized by the provincial government, who announced it was creating a task force to discuss flood mitigation in Ontario.

Watson had the chance to voice his concerns about how the dam system on the Ottawa River is working, and whether it had any effect on the flooding situation in 2017 and 2019.

He called for an independent review into how the dams operate each spring.

“If there's nothing to hide, then open up the books,” said Watson. “Let everyone see exactly what's going on up there.”

City Councillor for West-Carleton March Eli El-Chantiry echoed the mayor's sentiments.

“Let's dive in to the Ottawa River operations and not be afraid of the results. If there's no errors then we can move forward.” explained El-Chantiry.

At that point, he said we can start building better infrastructure.

Some homes on flood plains are built for 100-year floods, but the same can't be said for some of the infrastructure.

Without knowing the results, El-Chantiry added, residents in his ward are in a holding pattern. They're not sure whether they should start fixing their homes, or if there will be a government-supported buyback program, similar to the one in Québec.

He said residents should be able to attend a similar meeting to Friday's that's open to the public, so that they can hear the answers directly.

The results of the task force meetings will eventually be summarized in a report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

There are also plans to hold an external task force meeting, but there is no timetable for that.

Kanata-Carleton MPP Merrilee Fullerton hosted the session, and in her comments before the meeting began, she complained the City of Ottawa had left her out of its own meetings, and asked for better co-ordination. After the meeting, Mayor Jim Watson said that's not true, and that she should stop “playing politics.”