The $530 million announced by the Liberals to fight climate change is a mere 10% of what the partner organization claimed was needed to combat climate change.
Ottawa will provide over half a billion dollars through the Green Municipal Fund to help municipalities adapt to climate change, according to a press release issued by the Liberals on Monday.
Municipalities across Canada can apply to the Green Municipal Fund for up to $1 million for climate adaptation implementation projects and up to $70,000 for risk assessments and feasibility studies.
While municipalities can apply for funding, municipally owned corporations, organizations delivering municipal services, non-governmental organizations, not-for-profit organizations, research institutes like universities, and Indigenous communities are also eligible to apply.
The grant awards a maximum of $1 million for implementing project costs up to 60% of eligible costs, with an additional 10% available for Indigenous communities, rural communities, projects that address anti-racist climate adaptation, and “nature-positive adaptation.” Projects that check the boxes of all four additional requirements can secure 100% of eligible cost funding.
Funding is available until August 14, 2024. Further funding will be released for climate-ready plans and processes in Fall 2024, and financing adaptation in Spring 2025.
By 2031, the Liberals said that the initiative will have funded more than 1,400 municipal activities.
The $530 million in funding was initially announced on November 24, 2022, but didn’t receive any funding commitment until the 2024 federal budget. Much of the budget focused on climate change, such as Canada’s updated defence plan, which focused on climate change and missed NATO’s requirement.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault thanked the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for collaborating with the feds to combat climate change.
However, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities previously released a report in collaboration with the Insurance Bureau of Canada saying that Canadian municipalities would require an annual investment of $5.3 billion, ten times what the feds have pledged, to adapt to climate change.
The feds have invested over $6.6 billion in climate adaptation since 2015.
Despite Canada dumping money into climate change, the country previously fell to 62nd out of 67 on the Climate Change Performance Index.
“Justin Trudeau’s failed environmental policies are not only costing Canadians — but they’re also not working!” said Conservative MP Dan Mazier in a post to X.
While the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Harjit S. Sajjan, said that “extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity,” a Fraser Institute study proved that there is no evidence that extreme weather events are on the rise.
A different Fraser Institute study showed that reaching net zero by 2050 is “highly unlikely” and “impractical,” suggesting even that the world is headed in the opposite direction.
Despite Guilbeault consistently falsely attributing wildfires to climate change, most wildfires can be attributed to arson.
For example, almost every fire in Alberta this year was human-caused.