Canada and Ontario will contribute about $50 million towards protecting Toronto’s Port Lands from flooding, according to a joint press release Sept. 14.
The money is to fund the Essroc Quay Lakefilling Project, which is to create new land mass across the Port Lands area and stabilize the shoreline.
This project will not eliminate flooding in the Port Lands, but it will improve water quality, optimize water and storm infrastructure, and increase aquatic habitat, according to the release.
A total of 41 projects have been approved under the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, including the lake-filling project.
“Infrastructure is the foundation of the Canada we want to build for tomorrow,” said Amarjeet Soho, federal minister of infrastructure and communities, in the press release.
The projects work to maintain healthy waters and efficient wastewater systems across Ontario.
“The people of Ontario deserve to know they have clean water, clean lakes and rivers, and water management systems they can trust each and every day,” said Bob Chiarelli, provincial Minister of Infrastructure in the release.
Scarborough resident Donna McKinley, who plans to move near the Port Lands in the future, says this new funding makes her plans more concrete.
“The structures they’re planning on putting around the quay might not stop the floods, but at least something is being done,” McKinley said. “I don’t have to worry so much now about life being too different when I move down. I’ve never really experienced a flood before and I hope I don’t have to.”
The project is to start construction in 2017 and finish in 18 months.