Feds, province announce $28.4 million for Sussex flood plan

After years in the works, the Town of Sussex's flood mitigation proposal now has federal and provincial funding behind it.

The federal government, represented by Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long, announced $15.3 million for construction as part of the project, while Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Tammy Scott-Wallace, also the minister of tourism, heritage and culture, announced more than $13 million from the province's regional development corporation at an event Monday at Sussex town hall.

Sussex has been hit hard by flooding multiple times in the past decade, including flooding in 2014 that led to 1,450 evacuations as well as spring flooding in 2018, 2019 and 2020. This spring the community again experienced overland flooding in February that caused an estimated $2.67 million, according to provincial spokesperson Allan Dearing.

Sussex's flood mitigation plan includes digging diversionary channels from Trout Creek to the Kennebecasis River to lessen pressure on Trout Creek. Planned work totalling more than $40 million is expected to take three to five years to complete, according to Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne.

"There's still a lot of work ahead of us, but when you look at the nature of what has been occurring, there could never be a simple fix, there could have never been a quick fix," Thorne said. "There could only be dogged determination and support from across all levels of government and people we serve to help us get there."

Long acknowledged the hard work and "frustration" from local leaders like Thorne, Sussex CAO Scott Hatcher and Fundy-Royal MP Rob Moore, who was in attendance, in pushing for the project to be funded. He said the government "knows the effects" climate change has had on communities.

"We've seen communities basically underwater, no community deserves that, no community should have to endure that again and again and again," he said. "We need to react, we need to be bold, we need to be aggressive in moving those things forward."

Scott-Wallace called it "a day for this community that I have really been looking forward to," saying it had been a "lot of work" with the town getting to this point.

"We know how devastating flooding is for people, we know that when flooding happens, families are ripped apart, homes are ripped apart and memories are lost," she told Brunswick News

The federal money comes from the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and is to "start construction" on two diversionary channels and overpasses, Long said. The province is funding $919,000 for construction and design of a berm protecting 80 homes in Sussex Corner, $158,000 for design work, including the environmental impact assessment, as well as $12 million for the project at large, Scott-Wallace announced.

However, the $12 million wasn't previously budgeted, meaning it relies on the Progressive Conservatives winning the next provincial election.

Thorne called the berm project a "bonus" project not in the existing flood plan that could get underway sooner, and said the town is contributing half of the costs, for a total of $10.3 million for both projects.

"Our residents, they deserve to start to see some action. They've listened to us for years make promises," he told Brunswick News. "It gives us the opportunity to show people that hey, we're on our way."

He said he hopes that the project could be completed in three years, but understands it could be three to five, saying there are aspects "not currently under our control" including needing to get under Highway 1, needing to get under CN rail lines and needing to acquire property.

Moore called it a "culmination of a lot of hard work" and congratulated Thorne and CAO Scott Hatcher.

"There's still a lot of work to be done, but to have over $30 million in place, it's a great day for the town," Moore said.

Road to approval

The project was initially proposed in 2022 as a joint project of Sussex and the former village of Sussex Corner, which were amalgamated as part of local governance reform the coming January.

Brunswick News reported in March that a technological issue in June 2022 caused the application to the disaster management fund to be delayed a year, and in January, Moore, a Conservative, sent a letter to Liberal Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser calling the project "essential to the viability of the town."

Then came February, when Trout Creek overflowed after 96 millimeters of rain fell in two days, leading to the evacuation of 36 people. Public safety spokesperson Allan Dearing said last week that 126 households, apartments and small businesses reported an estimated $2.76 million of damage.

Thorne told the crowd that following the flooding, he looked at his phone and saw a text he didn't expect: from Wayne Long, whose riding is adjacent to Sussex's Fundy Royal riding.

"I knew it was devastating what I saw, and ... I knew they needed support," Long, a Liberal, told Brunswick News. "So I said 'Look, I'm not your member of parliament, but I am sitting in government ... and I'll do whatever I can to try and help you.' "

Long said that sometimes "you just need to shake that tree a little bit harder and make sure that file gets on the top of the pile," saying that he reached out to Fraser to make him aware of "the importance, the devastating situation they were in."

Thorne told Brunswick News Long reached out weeks ago to inform him the application was successful, saying "I'm extremely grateful for his efforts, he really made a difference for us."

While the provincial money for half of the berm costs and for the design work was confirmed in advance, Thorne said he learned about the rest of the provincial money earlier Monday.

"That is the missing piece," Thorne said. "We could not begin the work from the large-scale projects to fix the water issues in our community without them, so that's a gamechanger."

Scott-Wallace said that the February floods were the "straw that broke the camel's back" and that Premier Blaine Higgs visited the community a month ago, saw the channel and spoke to the town.

"He certainly knew that he had to be at the table on the project, there was no other solution," Scott-Wallace said, saying the berm and design work was the "first step."

"We were just so grateful that here today, we were able to come together, the three levels, for that bigger project," she said.

Thorne said the provincial dollars came "very quickly," saying following his meeting with Higgs, he felt "comfortable believing" they were in on the project, but "I just didn't know when."

Moore commended Scott-Wallace for her advocacy, saying the challenge for the project was "raising awareness at three levels of government."

"That's something I certainly did as in my role a member of parliament is advocate at the federal level for funding. I'm just glad to see everything come together today," he told Brunswick News.

The announcement comes six days after Bruce Northrup, who had won four terms in Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins as a Progressive Conservative MLA and retired before Scott-Wallace's 2020 election, announced he would be seeking the Liberal nomination in the new Sussex-Three Rivers riding.

Northrup said he's "certainly happy that the announcement came through," calling it "a long time coming." He said that he's got "quite a few comments" about the timing of the announcement, adding that he's "curious" about how the last $12 million fell into place.

"I hope so, at the end of the day, that I did spur the premier to make this commitment," said Northrup, who said they are working towards a nomination meeting "sometime in August."

When asked if the funding amounts to an election promise, Scott-Wallace said that the town and province have been working on the berm and design funding since "soon after the February flood" and that Higgs confirmed the province would be at the table for the larger project at the meeting a month ago.

When asked about the federal government and province coming together, Thorne said he's "reassured."

"I am reassured that people at both levels of government, upper levels of government, truly did and do understand the position that we're in, that they understand the necessity of the work, that they understand that Sussex is part of the story of New Brunswick's success," he said.

Thorne said the news had "tremendous emotional impact," with residents who had been through multiple floods hugging in the audience at council chambers.

"I began to choke up a little myself," he said. "Just feeling, (after) almost a decade of anxiety and pressure and fear of the next rainstorm, finally feeling that we really might have reached a point where we might be able to make this go away."

Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal