As seas rise, study sees need for national, natural approach to help coastal towns
HALIFAX — For Darlene Norman, being a municipal leader faced with what the author of a new study sees as Ottawa’s piecemeal approach to climate-related flooding feels like drowning in ever-rising seas.
“It’s like we’re here, floundering,” said the mayor of the Region of Queen’s County — a lightly populated region on Nova Scotia’s south shore, which is at increasing risk of storm surges as Atlantic Ocean levels creep higher.
“It’s the municipalities that have the most money and the most staff that will be receiving the most (federal) assistance,” Norman said in an interview Sunday.
“It should be the opposite way around. Ottawa should have a specific department which evaluates regions of greatest risk. … There needs to be one Canadian standard level of evaluation for where the funds go.”