National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act

This bill requires the federal Minister of the Environment, working with the Ministers of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Infrastructure and Communities, Natural Resources, and Public Safety, to develop a national strategy on forecasting floods and droughts across Canada. The goal is to give provinces, municipalities, Indigenous communities, industry (including insurers), and other stakeholders better information to predict floods and droughts. In creating the strategy, the Minister must consult provincial and municipal governments, Indigenous governing bodies, universities, civil society groups, and industry representatives.

The strategy itself must assess the benefits of national coordination, new investment, and new technology for flood and drought forecasting; evaluate what modelling would be needed; look at opportunities to build out national forecasting capacity, including mapping flood plains now and in the future; and outline steps the federal government could take in response, including a possible proposal for a cooperative national hydrological and water-resources forecasting service modeled on the existing federal-provincial National Hydrometric Program.

The bill sets deadlines and reporting requirements rather than creating any new agency or program directly. Within two years of the law taking effect, the Minister must complete the strategy, table it in Parliament, and publish it online. Within five years after that, the Minister must produce a follow-up report—done in consultation with the same groups—evaluating how effective the strategy has been, including conclusions and recommendations, and also table and publish that report.

This bill requires the Minister of the Environment to develop and table in Parliament a national strategy on flood and drought forecasting, and to report later on its effectiveness.

• Who must act — the Minister of the Environment, in collaboration with the Ministers of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Infrastructure and Communities, Natural Resources, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, must develop the strategy.
• Consultation requirement — the Minister must consult provincial and municipal governments, Indigenous governing bodies, universities, civil society organizations, and industry (including insurance) while developing the strategy.
• Required contents — the strategy must include assessments of the need for national coordination, new investment, novel technologies, and modelling for flood/drought forecasting, plus possible government measures, including a proposal for a national hydrological and water-resources forecasting service modelled on the federal-provincial National Hydrometric Program.
• Deadlines and tabling — a report setting out the strategy must be tabled in both Houses of Parliament within two years of the Act coming into force, and published online within 10 business days of tabling.
• Follow-up review — within five years after that report is tabled, the Minister must prepare and table a further report on the strategy's effectiveness, including conclusions and recommendations, again published online.
• Oversight — the Act's only enforcement mechanism is the tabling and publication requirements; it does not create new offences, penalties, or a standing body, and it sets no sunset clause on the reporting duties.