Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
The federal government committed $31.7 million over three years in its latest budget toward a low-cost flood insurance program.
The insurance industry has been calling for a government-backed program to help households at increasingly high risk of damage from flooding due to extreme weather.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada called the funding a "major step forward" in a statement responding to the budget Tuesday evening.
Flooding is Canada's greatest climate-related risk, with more than 1.5 million households considered highly exposed to flooding, said president and CEO Celyeste Power in the statement.
"Today's funding from the federal government will help ensure all homeowners, regardless of their risk, have access to affordable flood insurance," she said.
Recently highlighting this risk was last year's hurricane Fiona, which caused flooding for many Atlantic Canadian homeowners whose residential home insurance policies didn't cover all the damages.
Experts said the hurricane highlighted gaps in home insurance, which don't normally cover damages from storm surges such as the ones caused by Fiona.
The new flood insurance program would consider damage caused by storm surges as well as riverfront flooding and urban overland flooding, said Power.
She said Canada joins the U.K., U.S. and many other G7 countries in announcing such a program.
"IBC looks forward to working in close collaboration with the federal government and the provinces and territories to establish the country's first national flood insurance program within the next 24 months," said Power.
The federal budget states that the unique realities of natural disasters make them difficult to insure. It proposes funding starting in 2023-24 to Public Safety Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to work with the Department of Finance on the program.
The program would include offering reinsurance through a Crown corporation and a separate insurance subsidy program.
The budget also proposes $15.3 million over three years for Public Safety Canada to create an online portal where Canadians can find out their exposure to flooding, as the increasing risks posed by climate change mean many many not be aware of the risks their home faces.
It also proposes more than $50 million to Public Safety Canada to identify areas at a high risk for flooding and implement a modernized Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program, the program that covers the vast majority of provincial and territorial costs after a disaster.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.