Canada’s 2026 federal budget has not prioritised climate adaptation investment, according to Climate Proof Canada (CPC), a national coalition that counts the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the Insurance Brokers’ Association of Canada (IBAC), and several of the country’s largest property and casualty carriers among its members.
In a statement released on November 6, the coalition said the budget “misses a critical opportunity to strengthen Canada’s economic resilience to extreme weather at a time when climate-related disasters are imposing growing costs on households, businesses and governments.”
The criticism comes after a record year for insured catastrophe losses. IBC data compiled by Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) shows severe weather events in 2024 caused $8.5 billion in insured losses, surpassing the previous record of $6 billion set during the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires. That 2024 total was roughly 12 times the annual average of $701 million recorded between 2001 and 2010.
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Climate Proof Canada outlined three priorities for the federal government. The coalition called for renewed funding for the National Adaptation Strategy, dedicated climate-resilient infrastructure investment within the Build Communities Strong Fund Direct Delivery Stream, and measures to prevent federally supported housing from being built in areas at high risk of flooding or wildfire.
On new construction, the coalition said governments should “improve the resilience of new homes through federal building code updates.”
“Canada cannot build a stronger economy while disaster losses continue to climb. These losses are disrupting businesses, damaging critical infrastructure, worsening housing affordability pressures, straining public finances and reducing economic productivity,” Climate Proof Canada said.
The group acknowledged some positive steps in the budget, including investments in emergency management for First Nations communities, but said these “do not reflect the scale of action needed to address one of Canada’s fastest-growing economic risks.”
The loss data underpinning the coalition’s concerns is well documented. In an August 2026 statement on the National Adaptation Strategy, IBC said insured extreme-weather losses in Canada averaged more than $3.7 billion a year over the past decade, up from $883 million in the decade before that. The industry body has also called for $65 billion in infrastructure investment to address the country’s stormwater and wastewater deficit, a figure it has repeated throughout 2026 as catastrophe events continue to drive claims.
Liam McGuinty, IBC’s vice-president of federal affairs, said in that same August statement that “Canada can no longer afford to treat extreme weather as a series of emergencies to respond to after the fact.”
“We need a fundamental shift from disaster recovery to disaster prevention and resilience. Investing in resilience protects Canadians, reduces disaster costs and helps keep insurance affordable and available,” McGuinty said.
The coalition’s call for action on building codes and flood-zone construction echoes a growing body of data on where Canadian housing stock sits relative to flood risk. Statistics Canada data released in September 2026 found that in Winnipeg alone, 112,085 residential properties, or 45.1% of the city’s housing stock, fall within zones classified as high flood hazard. In British Columbia, the figure is 101,640 properties.
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The scale of the exposure compounds the concern. Statistics Canada data released in September 2026 found that 112,085 residential properties in Winnipeg - 45.1% of the city’s housing stock - fall within high flood hazard zones. In British Columbia, the figure is 101,640 properties. Those are not abstract risk categories: they represent the placement environment brokers in those provinces are already navigating, and without the adaptation investment the coalition is calling for, the gap between existing housing stock and insurable risk will keep widening.
Climate Proof Canada’s carrier membership spans Intact Financial Corporation, Aviva, Co-operators, Definity, Desjardins, Gore Mutual, Wawanesa, and Zurich Canada, alongside the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Engineers Canada, and the Métis National Council. The coalition said the federal government should adopt a “whole-of-society approach” to climate resilience. Without that, the costs continue to fall on the market - and on the brokers placing within it.
