Ontario picks Manitoba expert as flooding adviser

The provincial government is turning to a man with decades of experience managingflooding in Manitoba to help do the same in Ontario.

Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski announced Thursday the province hadappointed Doug McNeil as a special flooding adviser to review its flood management efforts and point out ways it could improve.

He will be paid up to $60,000 a year and will be expected to report back with recommendations this fall.

Ontario names Manitoba expert as flood adviser

5 years ago

Duration 0:51

Natural Resources Minister John Yakabuski announced Thursday the province had appointed Doug McNeil as a special flooding adviser to review its flood management efforts and point out ways it could improve.

"This is in response to many requests from members of the public,"Yakabuski said Thursday during a news conference in Constance Bay, a rural westOttawa neighbourhoodshard-hitby flooding in April and May."[We've been talking] about how we might take the next steps, and appointing this adviser today is our next step."

McNeilhas worked for the City of Winnipeg and was once Manitoba's deputy minister of infrastructure and transportation. He has worked on water management issues since the1980s.

His work has included handlingthe historic 1997 Red River floods and subsequent effortsto try to lessen the impact of flooding, including expanding the Red RiverFloodway.

McNeil retired in May as Winnipeg's chief administrative officer after a four-year term at the job that saw calls for him to resign or be suspended over the handling of aroad extension project.

Yakabuski said he'dnever met McNeil, whose new role will bearm's-length from the province. The comment followsrecent criticismover appointments with ties to high-ranking government officials,

Ontario has offered disaster relief money to flood victims andput together a task force to look at how it could better withstand floods in the wake of severe, record-breakingflooding in the Ottawa and Muskoka areas in May.

• After heavy spring flooding, Ontario creating task force focused on flood resilience
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It's alsobeen criticized for cutting funding to conservation authorities, which monitor water levels and forecast floods, and heard calls from some mayors to investigate the causes of Ottawa River flooding.

Yakabuski said Thursday he wrote to the Quebec and federal governments last week to ask for help setting upthat independent review, since they all play a role in its management.