(Re)Build Our Cities
This summer has been a wake-up call for us all. Across Canada, water main breaks and floods have become alarmingly common, from Montreal to Calgary, Toronto to Vancouver. Our cities' infrastructure, crucial to our everyday lives, is crumbling and failing under the strain of aging systems and extreme weather conditions.
The infrastructure that keeps our cities functioning—water mains, sewers, and storm drains—is deteriorating, leading to frequent and disruptive failures.
In Montreal, a major water main break caused flooding and a boil water advisory. Calgary faced a state of emergency due to a critical pipe failure, and Toronto is experiencing severe street flooding following recent storms. Vancouver wasn’t spared either, with flooding occurring in the Olympic Village due to a sewer main break.
This situation is not just inconvenient; it’s dangerous. Our current infrastructure was designed based on outdated flood data and cannot cope with the more extreme weather events brought on by climate change. The growing frequency of these incidents is a clear sign that we can no longer rely on systems that are increasingly obsolete.
We need to act now to ensure a safer, healthier future for our children.
Infrastructure projects require long-term planning and investment, but political terms are shorter, leading to unfinished projects and broken promises. We need a commitment that transcends political shifts to ensure that our infrastructure receives the attention and resources it needs. The federal government promised a national assessment of our infrastructure needs back in 2021, but this crucial evaluation has yet to be carried out. Without a clear understanding of our long-term infrastructure needs, we can’t make informed decisions about necessary repairs and upgrades.
As moms, we have the power to drive change. We need to demand that our leaders take immediate action to address the infrastructure crisis. This means collaborating across federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government to ensure our infrastructure is updated and maintained. It also means advocating for a fairer distribution of tax revenue to municipalities so they can effectively manage and improve our critical systems.