The federal government announced an investment of nearly $11 million in infrastructure in Tecumseh in an effort to protect the town from further flooding.

The announcement was made on October 26 by Irek Kusmierczyk, Member of Parliament for Windsor−Tecumseh, and Mayor Gary McNamara.

In recent years, the communities of Tecumseh and Windsor have been hard hit by catastrophic storms that have led to significant flood damage to local residences and businesses in recent years.

The $10.7 million in funding provided by the federal government comes through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF), and is the single largest federal investment in Tecumseh's history. The money will be bolstered by a further $16 million in spending from the town.

"Flooding continues to be the most frequent and costly natural disaster in Canada,” said Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair. “By investing in infrastructure, the Government of Canada is helping communities, like the Town of Tecumseh, increase their resiliency. The DMAF helps protect Canadians by reducing the risk of climate change and the long-term costs associated with replacing infrastructure following natural disasters."

The work involves the construction of and improvements to four infrastructure assets:

• decommissioning of the St. Mark's Pump Station;
• construction of a new consolidated Scully and St. Mark's Pump Station;
• improvements to the PJ Cecile Pump Station; and
• improvements to the storm sewers at two locations to move storm water runoff to the consolidated Scully and St. Mark's pump station. 

"My council colleagues and I have heard from residents that more needs to be done to protect them from flooding and flood mitigation is a vital priority for our council,” said McNamara. “This funding will assist in building our town's resiliency and keeping our community and its residents safe."

This investment is just one of many regional flood-related projects recently funded by the Government of Canada, including a historic $32,090,691 investment in flood mitigation for Windsor in 2019. Combined, the towns of Windsor and Tecumseh have received over $50 million to fund 16 projects related to flooding and wastewater. 

The DMAF is a $2-billion, 10-year program to help communities build the infrastructure they need to better withstand natural hazards such as floods, wildfires, earthquakes and droughts. To date, the fund has provided more than $1.7 billion has been announced through DMAF for 60 large-scale infrastructure projects that will help protect communities across the country from the threats of climate change.