The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The NDP government has accepted the findings of the independent 2011 Flood Review Task Force and the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin Regulation Review and Operating Advisory Committee. The province said Wednesday that work has already begun on many of the reports' recommendations. 'After every significant flood in this province, we take the time to analyze the event and our response, and immediately look at ways to improve our abilities to manage major flood events,' said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton. 'The two reports provide a wide range of recommendations, all of which we are accepting.' As a result of ongoing internal reviews and initiatives, Ashton said the government has already begun work on or completed more than 75 per cent of the recommendations the committees identified. The minister said the cost implications of some of the major flood protection infrastructure recommendations of the reports could be well over the billion dollar mark. He added that senior officials are already reviewing many of the projects identified in the reports as part of the Assiniboine River-Lake Manitoba Flood Mitigation Study that was announced at the same time as the task force review. 'We have seen the value in the past of investing upfront in flood protection infrastructure. It has saved Manitobans billions of dollars,' said Ashton. 'We are committed to continue investing in infrastructure that will protect homes, farms and communities from threats caused by the weather and geography.' _ Compiled from a Government of Manitoba news release
