Our 2020 Annual General Meeting took place on the evening of Tuesday, December 15, 2020. Following association business, speakers from the province and city brought us up to speed on the status of upstream and local mitigation efforts, as well as flood mapping and regulation.

Throughout the meeting we shared links to resources, all of which are available at the bottom of this email along with speakers’ slides. You can view the 2020 AGM minutes here.

Association Business

Tony Morris opened the event with his co-president’s message highlighting CRCAG’s work this past year and the work still ahead, notably the NRCB hearing on SR1 in March 2021 and our letter collection efforts.

“We’ve got each of you in front of your computer now. Go ahead and open your email and write to us at info@crcactiongroup.com. Thank you to all those that have submitted already, all of them are very moving. It doesn’t have to take long but we need you to write!”

Tony Morris, CRCAG Co-president

CRCAG board member Greg Johnson followed with association business including financial report and outlook for 2021. The NRCB hearing will be the largest expenditure next year (although we will be able recoup a portion of the expense through intervenor funding).

There was one change to our board this year, as Rob Nieuwesteeg stepped down after years of service. We thank him for his tremendous help over the years and wish him well.

CRCAG Board of Directors

• Brenda Leeds Binder, Co-president
• Tony Morris, Co-president
• Anna Mravcak, Treasurer
• David Carlson
• Steve Forrest
• Simon Geoghegan
• Greg Johnson
• Emma May

Bow River Committee

• Charlie Lund
• Jean Woeller

Regulatory Committee

• Lauren Bell
• Simon Geoghegan
• Rachel Kolber

Flood Free Calgary

• Paul Battistella, Spokesperson
• Charlie Lund
• Geoff Granville
• Paul Fisher
• Scott Laird

With the upcoming NRCB hearing, our regulatory team has kicked into high gear. There have been many and will be many more hours spent to ensure we are able to effectively represent the voice of the affected at the hearing.

The Flood Free Calgary (FFC) team has been instrumental in getting support from the business community and spokesperson Paul Battistella has helped secured letters from many influential Calgary business organizations (read more here). Find out more about FFC here.

To all of our volunteers and members, a huge thank you for your efforts this year. Only together will we succeed in protecting our city.

Speakers

Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Hon. Doug Schweitzer both spoke at the top of our speaker session with words of strong support for SR1 and flood mitigation efforts.

“I remember before I was elected there was a little bit of politics around this project and I am glad we’ve been able to take the politics out of it. All parties in Alberta now support SR1.”

Hon. Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation and MLA for Calgary-Elbow

Hon. Ric McIver then spoke briefly with a strong message of commitment to SR1, mentioning the funding already dedicated to the project provincially and federally (less the apx $70M spent to date).

“We’re all here tonight because we want to learn from the mistakes of the past and prevent it from happening again.”

Hon. Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation and MLA for Calgary-Hays

Additional presentations from the province and city followed, including information about the newly published draft flood inundation maps. Remember, first the province is completing the flood inundation maps, then the flood hazard maps will follow.

We’ll be posting a blog with additional info on flood mapping shortly.

You can download the AGM materials from all presenters here:

• 2020 CRCAG AGM – CRCAG
• [no slides] – Hon. Minister Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation
• Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1) – Executive Director, Transportation Policy at Transportation
• Bow River Reservoir Options and provincial flood mapping – Carcey Hincz, Executive Director, Environmental Knowledge and Prediction Branch, Resource Stewardship Division at Alberta Environment and Parks
• Local Flood Mitigation Update – Frank Frigo, River Engineering Group, Watershed Planning, Water Resources, City of Calgary Water Resources

Additional resources and links shared during the meeting:

• 2020 AGM agenda
• Speaker biographies + additional expert contributors at AGM
• Who is CRCAG?
• Raw Aerial Footage of Calgary, Alberta Flooding – June 21, 2013
• Calgary Floods 2013 21 June Bow River Downtown Center Street and NW Bowmont Park flood flooding
• After the Flood – Our Journey by David Allen (a must watch)
• Flood mapping:
  • Bow and Elbow River Flood Study – alberta.ca/bow-elbow-river-flood-study-engagement.aspx
  • Upper Bow River Flood Study – alberta.ca/upper-bow-river-flood-study-engagement.aspx
  • View draft inundation maps in an easy to use application at floods.alberta.ca/?app_code=FI&mapType=Draft
  • Submit feedback – alberta.ca/flood-study-engagements.aspx
• Bow River Reservoir conceptual assessment report

Following the formal presentations, we invited speakers to participate in a Q&A panel moderated by our co-president, Brenda Leeds Binder. Response highlights included:

• The NRCB and IAAC decisions are independent of one another, although both are public interest decisions based on comparable information provided by the proponent (AB Transportation) and other interested parties. It’s rare, but not unprecedented, for the two levels of government to make conflicting decisions on project approvals.
• AEP is in the process of securing a vendor for the Phase 2 feasibility study for the Bow River Reservoir Options study. That study will be completed by March 2023.
• As the Elbow basin is 1/6 the scale of the Bow, the challenge of resilience is that much more complex on the Bow. While advances have been made for many Bow River communities, the environmental, hydropower, water supply and related dimensions on the Bow are appreciable and are requiring time and study to appropriately configure.

Thank you to the (apx 120) members who attended, the volunteers that orchestrated the event, the elected officials that joined, and to our valued speakers.

Want more? Read our tweets from the night, view the recorded video, or check out the media coverage from Global News.

If you have any questions or comments for us, please reach out to us at info@crcactiongroup.com.

Thanks,

Your CRCAG Board