Regina MP concerned about Environment Canada cuts to weather research

A Conservative Member of Parliament from Regina says the Liberal government should look for spending cuts that don’t affect severe weather forecasting.

Regina-Lewvan MP Warren Steinley said a concerned constituent made him aware of a reduction in weather radar research funding, and he’s concerned about the potential impact.

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“Weather warning services will be affected long term,” Steinley said in an interview. “A midlife upgrade or replacement for next weather radar renewal programs will not have the capacity to do it.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a statement that it identified changes during a review of spending, but said the changes will actually “strengthen how science is delivered.”

“While changes to certain areas of applied research related to radar technologies have been made, the Department will continue to provide the scientific and technical expertise required to maintain Canada’s current radar network and ensure it remains operational to provide Canadians with lifesaving information,” Environment Canada said.

Steinley said the funding change goes hand in hand with a change in how the weather forecasting service will prioritize media requests.

Environment Canada explained in a separate statement that it will now prioritize media requests that pertain to active weather alerts.

“The National Severe Weather Media Access Line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for media inquiries related to active severe weather that could pose a threat to public safety,” it said.

“Media inquiries that are not related to active severe weather continue to be answered during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time on standard business days).”

Steinley said if Ottawa is looking for budget cuts, it shouldn’t be finding them in areas that relate to severe weather forecasting and preparedness.

“We should look at what we’re wasting money on that isn’t helping Canadians before we affect something like the weather system and warning systems and allowing our meteorologists and scientists to warn Canadians about weather,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of different areas that could be trimmed before affecting Canadians.”

Steinley said he feels Environment Canada does a good job, but said it should always be working on improving.

The weather service said it is making changes that will improve forecast accuracy, citing the use of artificial intelligence in a new hybrid forecasting system.

And, as of this week, Environment Canada is now able to target severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings to specific areas instead of larger regions. The change was made in part to address “alert fatigue” and reduce the number of warnings sent to phones.

–with files from The Canadian Press