Climate change committee plans 11 public meetings

A special legislative committee studying climate change will hold 11 public meetings across the province to hear from New Brunswickers on how the province should tackle the issue.

"We were overwhelmed with the response and look forward to beginning the next phase of the public consultation process," said Liberal MLA Andrew Harvey, the all-party committee's chair.

The public process comes a month after the legislative committee wrapped up a series of hearings from climate change experts in Fredericton.

The committee announced the hearings will happen on:

• Aug. 26 Perth-Andover
• Aug. 29 Atholville
• Aug. 29 Shippagan
• Aug. 30 Moncton
• Aug. 31 Sackville
• Sept. 1 Fredericton
• Sept. 2 Fredericton
• Sept. 6 Saint John
• Sept. 7 Saint John
• Sept. 8 Fredericton
• Sept. 9 Fredericton

In July, the legislative committee heard from experts whopainted a sober picture of New Brunswick's future.

Paul Kovacs from the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction, funded by the federal government and the insurance industry, said trends show more extreme weather is on the way.

He said the number of times the temperature exceeds 30 C is going to increase a lot.

And, he said, for the first time, insurance companies are paying more out in claims for flooded basements caused by extreme rain than they are for house fires.