Ontario Premier Doug Ford has launched what he calls an “internal task force” to “hear directly from people in flood zones”, but those residents are not invited to attend the task force meetings.
“My biggest concern is it’s a closed door meeting by invite only and the media and the public are out of this meeting,” says Ottawa city councillor Eli El-Chantiry.
“If this is climate change tell us how, if it’s a man-made mistake tell us who managed this and how we can correct this so it doesn’t happen again.”
El-Chantiry is upset with how the province is running these flood task force meetings.
Over two weeks the group will hold three meetings in flood zones across the province. The first was in Muskoka on May 17, with two more scheduled for Pembroke on May 23 and Ottawa May 24. The meetings are closed-door and invitation-only with local mayors and “industry leaders” including representatives from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board invited to attend. The meeting is not open to the public. The media will be given access to photograph the start of the meeting and then must leave and speak with delegates afterwards.
When asked by CTV who exactly would be attending the meeting and why media were not invited to attend the entire meeting, a spokesperson from the office of the Minister of Natural Resources, John Yakabuski, would only say,
“Our number one priority is the safety of the public and the protection of our communities. After seeing first-hand the impacts of flooding in communities across Ontario, we are taking immediate action to help. Premier Doug Ford has demonstrated leadership by initiating the creation of an internal task force to review the province’s resilience to flooding. We are engaging with municipal, Indigenous and industry leaders to discuss how we can better plan for flooding.”
El-Chantiry says that statement is not good enough.
“We don’t know what they do, we don’t know where they meet, we don’t know what’s on the agenda and we don’t know who’s invited.”
The councillor says homeowners should have a seat at the table, and worries the meetings won’t give residents the answers they so desperately need. He’s adding his voice to an online petition calling on an Independent Inquiry into the floods.
“An Independent Inquiry to review the OPG, Quebec Hydro and the Ottawa River Control Board, making sure all these agencies are working together and the dams and the reservoirs have all been properly functioning and maintained.”
El-Chantiry goes on to say in 2017, 518 homes were damaged by flooding, he estimates that number could double this year.
“We can’t even point at that number yet because we’re still underwater.”
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson will attend Friday’s task force meeting in Ottawa. The province has yet to release the location or time of the meeting.
While homeowners from flood affected areas are not invited to attend the meetings they are being asked to fill out an online survey to give feedback to the task force.
