Question Period Note: The Future of Hydro-Meteorological Services in Canada

On September 11, 2025, the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) has released an independent assessment on the future of hydro-meteorological services in Canada. The report identifies three key trends currently impacting hydro-meteorological services in Canada and mentions how funding cuts experienced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could impact ECCC’s operations.

• ECCC asked the Council of Canadian Academies to do the study you refer to in your question. We did that as part of our commitment to ensuring our hydro-meteorogical services remain at the forefront of technology and service.
• The report has confirmed many of the issues we are already addressing, and we will continue to draw on its findings to ensure that we continue to provide timely, accurate and reliable weather information and alerts to protect the health and safety of Canadians, businesses and defence activities.

In February 2025, ECCC commissioned the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) to complete an independent assessment of impacts of emerging trends, including climate change and rapidly developing technologies, on the essential functions of Canada’s public meteorological service.

The Department advanced this work as part of a multi-pronged approach to gather evidence regarding emerging trends, the evolving context in which it operates, and potential future directions.

The CCA is a well-established organization with extensive experience in producing high-quality information and evidence on complex issues of public interest for the Government of Canada in support of evidence-informed decision-making. They use a robust process, convening multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral expert groups to provide independent, expert-driven, evidence-based assessments, tailored to address specific challenges. Their tested and proven methodology ensures the independence and credibility of assessments and findings. Their reports are peer-reviewed.

Over a six-month period, the CCA assessed the essential functions of Canada’s public hydro-meteorological service, and how these may change in the context of climate change, new technology, a shifting information landscape, and other trends. As part of this process, the CCA convened a four-member panel of experts over a three-month period to review evidence and deliberate on ECCC’s review topic. The CCA and panel also consulted many other experts as part of a workshop to review and discuss existing evidence.

The report identifies three key trends currently impacting hydro-meteorological services in Canada:
1. The strain that climate change is placing on hydro-meteorological resources;
2. Opportunities for technological advancements (such as artificial intelligence) and enhanced domestic and international collaborations; and
3. An evolving service ecosystem that requires credibility and authority in a diffuse information landscape.

The Report touches on funding cuts experienced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and how it could impact Environment and Climate Change Canada’s operations. In that regard, ECCC’s capacity to deliver hydro-meteorological prediction services has not been directly affected by changes in the U.S. because the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) operates its own models and focuses on Canadian observations to understand Canada’s weather and its impacts to Canadians.

ECCC relies on many different Canadian and international data sources to support its hydro-meteorological services, including weather radar, high-resolution weather satellite data and imagery, water quantity monitoring data related to shared water bodies, lightning detection equipment, weather stations, weather buoys, weather observation reports from ships, and weather balloons.

ECCC officials have developed mitigation and contingency plans to ensure that the impacts of any disruption to data transmission from the United States is minimized. These plans include strengthening and securing access to critical data, infrastructure and computing capacity for Canada, as well as working with other national hydro-meteorological services and with the World Meteorological Organization.

ECCC will continue to engage internationally through the World Meteorological Organization to strategically advance Canada’s priorities to improve Canadian observations, modelling, predictions and services. The MSC will leverage international partnerships and innovations in science and technology and build internal capacity and competencies.

The findings of the report will be considered as the MSC works to continuously improve and modernize hydro-meteorological services in an evidence-based manner.

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