FRANCAIS

July 28, 2003

Floodway Authority CEO Ernie Gilroy announced today that the formal environmental licensing process for the expansion of the Red River Floodway is underway.

For the project to proceed, it must be licensed under both the Environment Act of Manitoba and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. "The process begins with our filing a licence application along with a formal description of the work to be done with the Environmental Approvals Branch, and that was done today," said Gilroy.

"This project has been the subject of public consultation by the International Joint Commission (IJC), Manitoba’s Clean Environment Commission and the Province of Manitoba for the last seven years. After all the affected communities were heard and all options explored, the decision has been made to proceed with the floodway expansion."

Funding to initiate the project was secured in April when the premier and the prime minister made a joint announcement committing $160 million to the project.

The Project Description will be circulated to the appropriate provincial departments and agencies for review and will be placed on the public registry, so that the public can review and comment on it. The licensing process will include environmental hearings which are expected to take place some time in 2004. While this process is occurring, detailed engineering work will continue and land will be assembled for the anticipated enhancements to the West Dike.

"A great deal of environmental analysis of the expanded floodway option was conducted as part of the IJC review," Gilroy noted. "We anticipate that the IJC’s groundwork will lend expediency to the environmental review process and help ensure that the review is conducted in a timely manner."

The project will create 13,900 person years of work and have a total economic impact of $1.5 billion dollars.

For further information contact Ernie Gilroy at 204-945-4900

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