Three Fraser Valley Conservative members of Parliament are speaking out against the Trudeau government鈥檚 decision to turn down millions of dollars in flood infrastructure funding for Abbotsford.

Abbotsford MP Ed Fast, Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon MP Brad Vis and 91原创-Aldergrove MP Tako van Popta issued a press release Monday (June 24), expressing 鈥減rofound disappointment鈥� in the decision.

Their comments follow a press conference held June 3 in which Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens, Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz and Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne said they felt abandoned by the federal government.

The three said their cities had each presented applications of more than 500 pages to the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) for rebuilding dikes and other key infrastructure damaged in the November 2021 floods and for providing future protection.

Goetz said they each received a 鈥渙ne-line letter鈥� in response from the federal government that said their application didn鈥檛 provide enough of the information required.

Fast, Vis and van Popta said Monday that the support would have enabled Abbotsford to undertake critical mitigation work that would prevent future disasters such as the one that occurred in 2021.

鈥淭hat flood devastated local farm operations, disrupted rail and road transportation, cut off vital trade routes and impaired Canada鈥檚 largest port in Vancouver. The cost to Canada鈥檚 economy was in the many billions of dollars. The human cost is yet to be quantified,鈥� the press release stated.

Vis said officials from Infrastructure Canada recently advised them that the provincial government has made Prince Rupert鈥檚 application 鈥渋ts top priority鈥� for federal funding.

鈥淚t now appears that the provincial NDP and federal Liberals have abandoned our community despite assuring us that Abbotsford was a high priority for DMAF funding,鈥� he said.

The MPs said the federal government routinely solicits advice from the provinces and territories to determine which DMAF funding applications are approved.

They said federal officials told them that Abbotsford鈥檚 application was deemed deficient for not meeting the government鈥檚 鈥渕erit-based criteria鈥� and that the application exceeded the scope of the projects that DMAF would consider.

鈥淭he City of Abbotsford worked exclusively with the NDP and Liberal governments on its application,鈥� Fast said.

The MPs said the feds have delivered only 40 per cent of the disaster recovery funding they had promised in their 2021 fall economic statement.

鈥淥ur priority now is to ensure that, when the next funding opportunity occurs, all three levels of government work together as one to ensure that the critical flood mitigation work is completed,鈥� Van Popta said.

鈥淭ime is not on our side, and we hope that it doesn鈥檛 take another massive, costly and disruptive flood to spur governments to act. The good people of the Fraser Valley deserve better.鈥�

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