The federal government announced new funding for climate-related scientific research. It will spend $2.7-million on over a dozen projects aimed at measuring and understanding the effects of climate change.
The money will be spent on projects as diverse as avalanche safety to measuring the impact of climate change on the water supply of the Great Lakes basin.
The announcement was made by Colin Carrie, Conservative MP and parliamentary secretary to environment minister Leona Agglukaq.
He says the research will benefit both Canadians and the international community of climate scientists.
"It's very important that we coordinate so we don't duplicate some of the studies that are already going on," he says. "As far as our country's economic development, being able to predict even water ways and mobility, thing along those lines, it's extremely important for us."
Carrie says Canada is especially well placed to study the effects of climate change because of its size and ecological diversity.
He defended his government's record on climate change, saying Environment Canada has invested over $4-billion in science and technology since 2006.
The announcement made today, he says. "builds on that, because we do have to make science-based decisions. The importance is that we learn to build on that so we can predict and we can make sure our country is working as bests as possible."