Last week the 905 saw flooding that overwhelmed many parts of its respective cities. Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto saw an estimated $3.1 billion in damage to infrastructure and homes.
This isn’t an isolated incident either. In the last few years, the region and Canada have seen an increase in the frequency and severity of storms and conditions affecting our communities. The fact is that this is exactly what scientists predicted would happen as a result of climate change. As we emit greater quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, our weather and climate will become more and more extreme.
Unfortunately, the situation is too politicized to address it head-on. Politicians are making their careers on reversing climate change policies, and denialism runs rampant across all parts of Canadian society. There is one industry though that is taking it incredibly seriously. They are working on the numbers of what the true costs of this catastrophe will be. The insurance industry for years has been forced to pay out increasing sums due to climate change events.
We’ve talked about this before on the podcast, but in light of recent events, we thought it prudent to revisit the topic. To that end, we’ve invited back to the podcast Mark Cripps from the Insurance Bureau of Canada to explain that whether our leaders are taking climate change seriously or not, the insurance industry is. So whether we like it or not, we’re going to end up paying for it, one way or another.
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Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!
This type of flooding has occurred for 100 years or more. This is not extreme by historical standards. Flooding has happened, will happen regardless of the assumed causes. Better infrastructure is the answer.