45th Parliament · Session 1
Bill C-241: An Act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting
National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act
Introduced
September 22, 2025
Current Stage
HouseInCommittee
Last Updated
December 3, 2025
Sponsor
Tatiana Auguste
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0% Support
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Politicians' Vote
91% Support
333 MPs
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Bill C-241
Wed Dec 03 2025
An Act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting
Impact Rating
3/5
Short Summary
Mandates the creation of a national strategy to improve flood and drought forecasting, providing better, coordinated data to provinces, communities, and the insurance industry.
This is a Private Member's Bill that requires the federal government to create a national plan for predicting floods and droughts across the country. The main goal is to coordinate the efforts of five different federal departments and provide better, more consistent information to key groups like provinces, cities, Indigenous communities, and the insurance industry. The Minister of the Environment must lead the effort and consult widely with provincial and municipal governments before creating the strategy within two years.
Why does this bill exist?
Origin (Public Outcry/Event)
Response to the increasing number and severity of major flood and drought events across the country that have led to billions of dollars in damage and significant insurance losses.
The bill requires the Minister of the Environment to develop a national strategy for flood and drought forecasting within two years of the bill becoming law.
The strategy must be developed collaboratively with the Ministers of Agriculture, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Public Safety.
The government must consult with provincial and municipal governments, Indigenous governing bodies, universities, and industry, particularly the insurance sector.
The strategy must include an assessment of the benefits of national coordination, new investment, and using novel technologies for forecasting.
A key element is the assessment of modeling tools to identify properties and infrastructure that are at high risk from floods.
It requires the preparation of a proposal to establish a cooperative, national hydrological and water resources forecasting service to improve data sharing across Canada.
The Minister must table the final strategy report in Parliament within two years and publish it online.
Municipal Planners and Engineers
(Easier)
Will eventually receive more accurate, nationally coordinated flood-plain maps and long-term drought data to inform zoning and infrastructure projects.
Insurance Companies
(Cheaper)
Will benefit from improved national risk modeling and forecasting, allowing them to more accurately price policies and potentially reduce unexpected catastrophic payouts.
Indigenous Governing Bodies
(Rights Expanded)
They are explicitly required to be consulted in the development of the strategy, ensuring their community needs and traditional knowledge are considered in the national plan.
Provincial Impact
Provincial Impact
The core of this strategy is a 'cooperative, national hydrological and water resources forecasting service.' The success of the strategy depends entirely on provinces and municipalities agreeing to share data, adopt federal standards, and potentially spend money on new, coordinated systems, which is a significant ask.
Benefits & Pros
Creates a coordinated national plan, which should reduce duplication and improve the quality of disaster forecasting across the country.
Better flood and drought data will lead to better infrastructure planning and potentially save lives and billions of dollars in property damage over the long term.
Mandates consultation with Indigenous governing bodies, ensuring local, traditional water knowledge is considered in the national plan.
Improved data helps the insurance industry more accurately assess risk, which could lead to fairer insurance pricing for property owners.
Beneficiaries
Risks & Cons
The bill only mandates the creation of a strategy (a plan), not the actual implementation, meaning tangible improvements are years away.
It creates a new administrative burden on at least five federal departments to conduct the required research and consultations.
The success of the strategy relies heavily on the willingness of provinces and municipalities to cooperate and share their local water data.
The two-year timeline for developing a complex national strategy with multiple stakeholders may be unrealistic.
Affected Groups
Before & After
Currently, a province often relies largely on its own systems and data for flood and drought forecasting, leading to uneven quality and coordination across Canada. Under this bill, the federal government will create a strategy to coordinate data, standardize models, and propose a new national water forecasting service that all provinces can eventually use.
Real World Scenario
Currently: A family whose home is near a river has no clear, national standard for flood risk, and their municipal flood map might be decades old. Under this Bill: The government will develop a plan that leads to a new national service providing consistent, advanced modeling that identifies future high-risk areas based on climate change projections, giving the family and their city better information for preparedness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Votes on this bill
2nd reading of Bill C-241, An Act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting
Wed Dec 03 2025
Yeas: 303
Nays: 22
Total: 333
Sponsor
Member of Parliament
House of Commons
First reading
Completed on September 22, 2025
Second reading
Completed on December 3, 2025
Consideration in committee
Not yet started
Report stage
Not yet started
Third reading
Not yet started
Senate
First reading
Not yet started
Second reading
Not yet started
Third reading
Not yet started
Abuse Potential
The bill grants no direct regulatory or enforcement powers to any Minister, so direct abuse of power is unlikely. The potential risk lies in the language around the 'establishment of a cooperative, national hydrological and water resources forecasting service.' A future government could use the Strategy as justification to centralize control over provincial water data and resources, imposing federal standards and costs on provinces without their full, willing consent. While framed as 'cooperative,' this could be viewed as federal overreach into areas of provincial jurisdiction, especially if the resulting plan requires provinces to spend significant funds or forfeit control over their water management practices.
Implementation Risk
The primary risk is a failure to secure provincial and territorial buy-in. Since water management is primarily a provincial responsibility, the federal government may struggle to convince all jurisdictions to participate in the cooperative model, share their data, or fund the necessary infrastructure updates outlined in the final strategy.
Broad Economic Impact
Indirect
Everyday Life
Minimal impact
Admin Burden
Requires new forms (for the government).
Timeline
Phased in over 3 years. (The plan is created in two years, and then implementation would begin afterward.)
