Manitoba municipalities get $45M in infrastructure funding initially earmarked for flood channels

The Manitoba government is giving $45 million earmarked for work on a flood outlet in the Interlake region to municipalities due to delays in the project's consultations.

Premier Brian Pallister accused the federal government on Monday of changing the requirements of who needs to be consulted about the planned Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin flood channels — estimated to cost $540 million.

"We have begun this process over three years ago now and $72 million ago of planning, designing and consulting," he told a crowd of municipal officials in Brandon, Man., after arriving on a flight from the Grey Cup in Calgary earlier in the afternoon. 

"We've had over 200 contacts with communities around the basin, including close to 100 personal meetings," Pallister said. "That's consultation, except it doesn't count. It doesn't count because the yard sticks keeping getting moved. The federal government keeps moving them."

Leaders in area First Nations have criticized the project, fearing it could spread contaminated water and accusing the province of not doing enough consultations. 

Pallister lays the blame for the delays on the federal government. 

"A couple of months ago they added a new requirement that we have to consult with over 50 different local First Nations bands, principally, including some that are so far away from the project that the massive impact that would be felt by them, in the least optimum circumstance, would be less than a half inch of water," Pallister said.

In a statement, the federal government's Impact Assessment Agency told CBC News that guidelines on the consultation process were given to the province in May 2018 and were later revised. 

"The agency received additional information directly from Indigenous groups regarding the potential effects of the project and determined that Indigenous groups not previously identified could be affected by the proposed project," an emailed statement read. 

The agency asked the province to engage with six additional Indigenous groups and deepen the engagement requirements for 10 other groups that had been originally identified.

"Adjustments to engagement and information requirements are a standard practice in assessments to respond to a better understanding of potential project impacts as a project progresses through the process," the statement said. 

Channels announced in 2013

The province announced plans in 2013 to construct a permanent channel to take water from Lake St. Martin to Lake Winnipeg, and create a new outlet from Lake Manitoba that would flow to Lake St. Martin. Flooding devastated parts of the Lake Manitoba basin and Lake St. Martin in both 2011 and 2014. 

The project's costs are being shared by the federal and provincial governments, with Ottawa paying $247.5 million through its Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

Pallister said both the Association of Manitoba Municipalities and Manitoba Capital Region will get a say in how the $45 million is allocated. Details on what types of projects will qualify for the funding are still being worked out. 

"I get it that people deserve to be listened to," he told reporters after the speech. "We've been paying millions of dollars for that listening process and we have changed the design and modified it because we were listening.

"But you can't delay a project like this for much longer."

Pallister said he has spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the project recently. 

Construction on the outlets was initially anticipated to begin this fall, with no completion date announced as of yet.