Sep 19, 2023 – The Canadian Press

British Columbia’s emergency management minister said the province will be ready to introduce “in the coming weeks” new laws to govern responses to increasingly frequent natural disasters such as wildfires and flooding.

Bowinn Ma told a gathering at the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ annual convention in Vancouver Tuesday that laws will address the four phases of emergency management, ranging from preparedness and mitigation to response and recovery.

Ma told B.C.’s local politicians that the current Emergency Program Act focusing on disaster response has not been updated since 1993 and hasn’t kept up with the increasing frequency of extreme weather brought on by climate change.

“I know that from catastrophic floods, wildfires to extreme weather events, there’s absolutely no doubt that we’re experiencing the impacts of a changing climate,” Ma said. “And it is happening at an increased rate. Many communities have had to face new disasters while still trying to recover from previous disasters.”

Read the full article at ctvnews.ca.