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Mr. Marc Dalton (Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, CPC)

Nov/24/21 9:39:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your appointment. You look good in the chair. I want to express my appreciation to all members in the House and all parties for taking the time and agreeing to have this emergency debate. This afternoon, when we heard different members speaking about the crisis and the flood in British Columbia, I was struck that we gave each other standing ovations. All of us here really do care for the people of British Columbia and the province. British Columbia is in a really tough spot right now. It is an emergency. I think of communities like Princeton, Merritt, Abbotsford and Chilliwack, which are submerged or partially submerged, and smaller communities like Lytton, which have been stranded. Many thousands of people have been evacuated. I think of my brother David who lives in Yarrow. The livelihoods of people have been lost. The main transportation links were or are cut off. Most of us have seen the pictures of devastation in the media, or pictures of the Coquihalla Highway, for example, and other rail and road arteries. I do not know if members or those who are watching have travelled the Coquihalla, but it is a marvel of engineering. To see the overpasses collapse and how the changing rivers have wiped out roads in other places is quite stunning. My wife told me this morning that she hoped to see our granddaughter Harper in Kelowna around Christmastime, as well as the parents, who we love. I told her I did not know if we would be able to see them, because it depends on the roads. It could take many months before they are restored. Gas is being rationed in my riding of Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge and throughout much of British Columbia. I think of the entire city of Merritt, which was forced to evacuate. I think of the towns and villages of first nations, many of which are still reeling from the damage caused by the forest fire this summer, forced out at a moment's notice and living in emergency shelters once again. I think of the many people who lost their homes, businesses and livelihoods. I think of Mirsad and Anita Hadzic, as well as two others, who lost their lives in the mudslide on Duffey Lake Road. Tragically, their two-year old daughter was left behind without parents. Even in these most tragic and sad situations, some rays are shining through. The people of British Columbia have rallied for this now-orphaned child, which is an example of the old adage “It takes a [community] to raise a child.” Money has poured in from everywhere, over $131,000 so far on GoFundMe. I think it is important to acknowledge some of the more positive stories from the past 10 days. We saw people reaching out to strangers with vulnerable health, offering to run errands for them so they did not have to put themselves at risk. There were stories that brought out the best in humanity, stories of love, generosity and hope, from a place aptly called Hope, a small town whose businesses and people stepped up in ways that we have not seen since Gander on 9/11. One of my staff, Jay Denney, told me about his friends Mya Warren and Kris Lang. They were on their way from Kelowna to Vancouver and became trapped in Hope, along with many others, when the roads leading out were closed or destroyed. They stayed positive throughout days of living in a car. The member for Langley—Aldergrove's son, daughter-in-law and five children lived in their vehicle under an underpass for several days until they were able to escape. Mya and Kris talked about the amazing volunteers at the high school in Hope, who provided blankets when they mentioned how cold it was. They shared stories on social media of how Panago Pizza had a generator and the staff fed people for free until they ran out of supplies. They were connected with Barb, who took them in until safe passage to Vancouver became available. Many others in Hope welcomed complete strangers. It is a testament to the fact that despite our differences, when things get tough in Canada, our strong community fabric comes through to help one another. Kudos to the people of Hope and to the people everywhere who have lent a hand or donated to help out. This fabric includes our first responders, the Canadian military, highway and utility crews, search and rescue units and emergency services volunteers. I thank all of them and the people of British Columbia for their resiliency, and for all the generous offers of assistance from all across Canada. I want to move onto the challenges, current and future. One challenge is the clarity and timeliness of information. Those same people in Hope, with all their positive stories, also raised valid complaints about accessing information. The information they received was from word of mouth. They wondered, as did I, why they received no information via emergency alerts on their cellphones. It seems pretty simple. A simple message with the details of which radio station or website people could get information from would have gone a long way to help locate emergency supports. If we can inform people province-wide about a missing person or about a potential tsunami, then certainly we can inform them of how they can get help in a natural disaster. This needs to be discussed further so it does not happen again. We also have, as others have mentioned, British Columbians who have been issued severe fines for passing through Washington state without getting a COVID PCR test. These people are not on holidays. They are travelling essentially to get goods to survive, and doing what the minister said they could. The minister said that the matter was now clarified. However, what about those fines? The minister said that it was the responsibility of the Public Health Agency. That is not good enough. These people have enough to worry about. They should not be devastated financially. The minister needs to, within his statutory powers, do everything he can with respect to these fines to see them overturned. The ongoing challenges to infrastructure, transportation, supply chain, food supply, natural resources, human displacement and employment will be significant, and they all could have net-negative economic impacts for months, if not years to come. Infrastructure concerns me greatly across B.C., but particularly in my riding. We were relatively fortunate in Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, which is only half an hour away from Abbotsford. The Pitt and Alouette River watersheds were not as hard hit, but we did not escape totally unscathed. There was some localized flooding, but it could have been much worse. The dike system along the Pitt River has held, but there have been calls for years to upgrade this and no money has been committed. We need to do something about this. We could have a much more serious situation in the next freshet. The government has had six years to make significant improvements and it has not, putting the people in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and the Katzie first nation at severe risk. We need to take action to deal with the issue right now. There is time to discuss climate change and mitigation. This is important. However, right now we need to get the people out of the burning fire to provide safety and to move forward. That is an immediate concern. It is important to keep the focus on keeping B.C. safe, keeping people informed and building back B.C. as quick as possible. We need to remember the commitments that are made here when this crisis is no longer front-page news.

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Mr. Dane Lloyd (Sturgeon River—Parkland, CPC)

Nov/24/21 9:49:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that my colleague has a real heart for his constituents in the region. We have had a lot of talk about climate change tonight. We know that climate change is a large factor in why this flooding happened. However, we also know that we have not been putting in the effort to ensure people are kept safe, whether it be through building infrastructure or through better emergency preparedness. I know the member was previously a member of the provincial legislature. With the alert ready system, we have seen that the British Columbia government has not used that system. What more does the federal government need to do to work with the provinces to have a better standardized system for alert readiness in the country?

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Mr. Marc Dalton

Nov/24/21 9:50:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is the responsibility of each province. I do think there should be some basic foundations and precautions. It is hard to understand why people were not alerted. A few hours could have made a difference for many people to not be stranded. This is certainly a discussion the minister can have with provincial counterparts to ensure this is established and effective for all Canadians.

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Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ)

Nov/24/21 9:51:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate you on your election. You know how much I appreciate you, because we have spent time together on the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. I thank my colleague for his passionate speech. He knows that he can count on the Bloc Québécois's support for our friends in British Columbia. I think everyone wants to rise above partisanship. I unfortunately did not like how his leader responded to the question that my hon. colleague, the member for Jonquière, asked earlier about oil and gas. The Conservative leader accused my friend of playing petty political games. Calling for measures to combat climate change is not a petty political game. I am sure that my Conservative colleagues are aware of what is going on. Climate change exists, and British Columbia is an example of what is happening on this planet. I would like to ask my Conservative friend whether we can count on all parliamentarians here to tackle climate change once and for all, in particular by eliminating subsidies for the oil industry.

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Mr. Marc Dalton

Nov/24/21 9:52:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the Bloc Québécois member for his question, which is very important to everyone. We will certainly have the opportunity to have this discussion during this Parliament. As a member from British Columbia, my priority is helping and protecting those who are in this serious and urgent situation. I do not want to say that the member's question is not important, but it is not urgent.

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Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

Nov/24/21 9:53:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, before I ask my question, I want to recognize Port Moody firefighters, Coquitlam firefighters, Port Moody police, Coquitlam RCMP and the volunteer organization of Coquitlam Search and Rescue for their work to bring stranded people to safety in Abbotsford. As we face more and more of these extreme weather catastrophes, I would ask the member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge if the Conservatives agree that there should be more federal support for these organizations that always come together to help.

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Mr. Marc Dalton

Nov/24/21 9:54:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on her election. As a neighbouring member of Parliament, I hope to be able to work with her on issues of importance such as what we are dealing with right now. Also, as she commended her emergency services and volunteers, I would do the same for those in my community who helped out. However, there is certainly more to be done, and there is a lot of room for discussion on this as we move forward.

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Hon. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, Lib.)

Nov/24/21 9:54:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Surrey—Newton. I ask my colleagues to spare a thought, or even a tiny tear, for my poor, beleaguered province of British Columbia. First there were heat waves in the summer, then there came fires, and it was only two months ago that we were able to deal with putting out those fires and repairing the damage after what went on. Now we face floods. Not only have we had the floods, but we hear that in a week there will be over 80 to 100 millimetres of rainfall with storms hitting the same province in the same area. Then two weeks after that, there is going to be another set of storms. I ask members to spare a thought for my province. It is not only the cost of human life, misery and the displacement of families and people, but there is also the cost to dairy farmers. British Columbia, my province, is the capital of dairy farming in this part of the world. We should think about what has been happening. We have heard that 500 cows died. The Fraser Valley is facing a problem and neighbouring communities are adopting cattle, bringing them to their own farms to take care of them temporarily until things change. We are hearing this is happening even in nearby Alberta and Washington, D.C., where people are trying to help out with this problem. We have heard about the economic cost. We have heard all about the cost of rebuilding, the cost to businesses, the cost to the dairy industry and the cost to the farming industry. We have seen supply chains cut off. We have seen gas being rationed in the province of British Columbia. We have seen that fuel and medicines cannot get to people who need them. The Port of Vancouver, which my colleague from Abbotsford mentioned, is probably the largest port in Canada, taking over $1 billion a day in economic services. Indigenous communities have been cut off from water, food and medicines, so people's health is at stake as well. We have seen what the federal government has done. The Prime Minister immediately called Premier Horgan and the four mayors of the most affected areas and told them we are here for them with anything they need. We, as a federal government, have been responding to what we have been asked for by the municipalities, communities and, of course, the Province of British Columbia. My colleague, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, has been speaking every single day with Minister Farnworth and the minister of transport, Minister Fleming, in British Columbia. There are talks going on and there is movement happening. The defence minister sent 500 troops to British Columbia to help with rebuilding, to help with dikes, to help move goods and services, and to help with supply chains and airlifting people and food to communities. This is about damage control. This is about taking care of the problems that are happening. We should also talk about how the cost of rebuilding alone is going to be phenomenal. We want to make sure that when we build back, and I am going to use that hackneyed term, we will build back better. Let us make sure that the materials we use will be resilient and that they will not be damaged by water, floods or fire, and that they will be able to survive these disasters that are hitting the province so quickly, so that we can be resilient and not always having such enormous damage done. We need to talk about the cost of rebuilding, the cost of preventing, the cost of mitigating and the cost of protecting communities from climate change. Before I talk about how the provinces have come together, I want to mention that the federal government, municipalities and every one of the governments are pulling in the same direction. We are all working together to make change, to protect and to move forward. I want to talk a bit about the unsung heroes, the frontline workers, the firefighters, the police, the RCMP, all of the community organizations and volunteer groups helping their communities. Let us talk about the community people who have come forward. We heard a story about a Sikh community suddenly bringing in food and medicine and whatever was needed. We have seen and heard about people renting, helping, adopting farm animals, helping with milking of cows. We have seen families feeding each other and taking each other into their homes. As everyone has said, that is what we do as Canadians. It shows that everyone is pulling together, not just governments but communities, industry and organizations. Anyone who can is coming out to help each other. That is not to mention the individuals across the country who have been donating money to the Red Cross. We talk a lot about climate change. We do not have to talk about it anymore. The debate is over. It is here. We have seen the enemy. It is climate change, and it is fossil fuels. We need to talk about it, and we need to do something about it. The time for partisan debate is over. Let us no longer stand in the House and say we do not want to be partisan, yet debate any action on climate change. Let us come together and take this action together for the sake of our communities, as British Columbians will know. Let us do this for the sake of communities that are yet to come. We see what is happening in the Atlantic provinces right now. Let us not have to talk about this anymore. Let us do what we need to do to prevent it. Let us act in this House, as one voice, and take the steps we need to take with climate change. I will tell everyone why it should not be partisan and why we should care. It is because we all inhabit this planet together. Let us work together to protect it.

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Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)

Nov/24/21 10:01:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, since this is the first time that I am rising in this House during this Parliament, I would like to thank my husband and son for their unwavering support and also the constituents of Kelowna—Lake Country for entrusting me to continue to be their member of Parliament. It is truly an honour. I am really happy to see that so many members of this House came together to have this emergency debate this evening. My riding of Kelowna—Lake Country is right next to some of the most affected areas. We have taken on thousands of people who are out of their homes, and I have really seen the spirit of Kelowna—Lake Country open up with volunteers and people in the community helping. I would like to ask the member opposite about the most immediate needs that we have for repair and for helping people, specifically with respect to adaptation, because I did not hear her speak about adaptation. The immediate need is that we need to make sure that something like this, on this scale, does not happen again.

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Hon. Hedy Fry

Nov/24/21 10:02:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is an interesting question. I did speak about adaptation actually. I talked about protecting and preventing, putting back climate change to 1.5°C, and that we need to talk about it to get there. We need to therefore stop arguing about it, stop debating, and stop blocking it. Let us move forward to help it. I also wanted to say that it is little acts of kindness that are going on in her community in Kelowna. It is little acts of kindness when people come together and move forward and help each other in times of need. This is wonderful, but we do not always want to depend on people coming together to help each other out. We need to do something. We are the legislators. We can do something about climate change.

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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Nov/24/21 10:03:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the people first in my riding, where 100 people were displaced, many of them living in a trailer park. I want to thank the first responders, the community residents who stepped forward, the Arrowsmith Search and Rescue, the people who took risks when the Englishman River breached its bank. There is a lot of fear for the people in our community right now. There is a forecast of an atmospheric river coming for this weekend as well. We have not remediated the impact of the storm that hit us. We have not talked enough about wild salmon and the impact on wild salmon. We know that wild salmon have seen drought, forest fires, a warming ocean and the Big Bar landslide. We had a 3% return in the lowest salmon-bearing river in the world last year. Will the member speak about the importance of the government urgently ensuring that there are monitors and that there is support for indigenous communities to see what we can do for habitat restoration for wild salmon, so we can preserve that iconic species, which is critical to our economy, our culture, our—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Nov/24/21 10:04:53 p.m.
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The hon. member for Vancouver Centre.

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Hon. Hedy Fry

Nov/24/21 10:04:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that was a question from a true British Columbian. There is an understanding of the problems that we face in British Columbia and an understanding of our culture and the iconic salmon. I think, in talking about indigenous communities, this government has stepped up and is working very closely with Minister Rankin in B.C., in getting water, food and medicines, and in protecting the indigenous communities in the region. That is all happening. I also wanted to say that it not only the human cost of these tragedies that are concerning us. It is the cost of our wildlife. It is the cost of the salmon. It is the cost of our fisheries, and it is the cost of the fact that our oceans are undergoing a set of changes through climate change. We need to talk once again. It all comes down to the bottom line: Let us deal with climate change, and let us deal with it now.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Nov/24/21 10:05:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, congratulations for your position once again in the chair. To my hon. colleague for Vancouver Centre, knowing her medical background, one of the areas of infrastructure that we have not talked about that will need massive overhauls for adaptation to the climate crisis is our hospitals and our medical infrastructure. We had a recent study done on Vancouver Island looking at the Nanaimo hospital. We realized that during wildfires surgeries were cancelled because the air quality inside the hospitals was not adequate. The air conditioning did not meet the needs of heat dome situations. Does the hon. member have any comments on that aspect of adaptation?

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Hon. Hedy Fry

Nov/24/21 10:06:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think this is really important to the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. One of the most important things in our hospitals and our intensive care units is that the resources working in those areas were completely beleaguered by COVID and the heat waves. We now see what is happening with the floods. The important thing, as Theresa Tam, our chief public health officer, has said when looking at this issue, is that it is about looking at the ventilation in these ancient buildings. We need to look at how we can ensure that we have ventilation that is going to prevent the spread of disease. We also need to look at how to fast forward what our government promised in this last election to bring about primary care physicians and nurses so that they can be the human resources we need to work in these hospitals in these communities.

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Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey—Newton, Lib.)

Nov/24/21 10:07:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today as a proud member of Parliament from British Columbia to relay the impact that the recent extreme weather events have had on the lives of British Columbians. As this is my first speech in this 44th parliamentary session, I want to begin by thanking my constituents in Surrey—Newton for placing their trust in me as their representative. I also want to acknowledge all of my supporters and volunteers for their dedication and unwavering support. Last but not least, I want to thank my family for all of their support, including my 82-year-old mother, Amarjit Kaur Dhaliwal, for all of her efforts and tireless campaigning throughout the many years I have been involved in public service. I am fortunate to be returning as the member of Parliament for Surrey—Newton for a fifth term. As always, it is a role that I consider a true privilege and one that I will not ever take for granted. I would like to begin by extending my deepest sympathies to those who have lost their homes and livelihoods and sharing my heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost loved ones. Before I delve into some of the Surrey—Newton stories and accounts that I have witnessed with community members stepping up for others, let me address a few things on behalf of our government. I am pleased to relay that, last night, Canadian Armed Forces started to hit the ground in B.C. communities. There are many points along our supply chain that were impacted, with highways broken, communities cut off and people still stranded. The immediate response units that have arrived will be critical in restoring these important supply chain routes, making sure that people and animals are safe and have access to basic necessities. This is particularly important as we wait for the atmospheric rivers to return over the coming days. Tonight will begin a new wave of storms, which are expected over the next week. By Friday night, anywhere between 40 to 80 millimetres of rain is expected. While these storms will be less intense than those we experienced 10 days ago, it is good to know that we have the armed forces on the ground to add extra capacity to our rescue and recovery efforts. I also want to address the recent issues with the Canada Border Services Agency, where we saw several Canadians fined and improperly given quarantine instructions that were contrary to our government's changes announced over this past weekend. I have heard from several Surrey residents directly, as our city is one of those border communities to where the exemptions were directed. There were constituents of mine who were impacted with financial penalties and improper instructions. However, I am pleased to report that the minister has made immediate corrections to this unfortunate set of circumstances, and I am confident that no other issues will occur. I am also very pleased that our government is working alongside the province of British Columbia to create the Supply Chain Recovery Working Group to bring together all key transportation and supply chain stakeholders. This approach will allow our province to find collaborative solutions that will work as effectively as possible to get food, medicines and other critical supplies back in the hands of British Columbians who have been cut off or impacted by shortages. I want to share with the House today what has happened with our local residents in Surrey—Newton who, while not nearly affected by the floods like other communities, have shown extraordinary spirit in lending support to those in distress. We have seen Gurdwaras and organizations across Surrey—Newton and Sikh Canadians throughout British Columbia prepare food around the clock, collect donations and most impressively helped to organize helicopters and planes paid for by various individuals and congregations to airlift food and supplies to affected areas. Over the past few days, I have spoken to many of the executive members and volunteers within these efforts and the response from the community has been nothing short of incredible. I have received hundreds of calls from people wishing to donate non-perishable food items, warm blankets and clothes. Others have reached out to express their desire to lend their time and manual labour, while some have pooled money among family and friends to contribute to these efforts. Of course, these efforts are not only within the Sikh community. People of all backgrounds and means have stepped up in British Columbia and from coast to coast to coast. Take for example, the flights that are now operating 24-7, flying back and forth between Metro Vancouver and the interior of B.C. at the cost of volunteer pilots who are transporting the overwhelming amount of supplies. It is estimated that each flight costs roughly $300 in fuel alone. What started out as a few planes has now expanded into dozens of planes running day in and day out to get essential goods to the hundreds of people stranded across the province. This is the kind of spirit that defines British Columbia. We are all connected no matter where people live in the province. We care about each other, offering outreach, help, support and compassion to those in distress. It makes me so proud of my province and fellow British Columbians. There is one takeaway that I have gained in watching and interacting with those who are in the line of fire, either as victims of flooding or as a part of the mission to help, and I want to communicate that message to the House. I hope British Columbia serves as a final wake-up call for every Canadian about the direct impact of climate change on our daily lives. Whereas once upon a time it was easy to say that natural disasters were something that happened in other parts of the country or the globe, British Columbia is now firmly entrenched in that club. The heat dome, the wildfires and now these floods teach us that no one, no matter geography or political belief system, is entirely immune from the consequences of our carbon-heavy way of life. It is why our government has made tangible and swift climate action a top priority as evidenced in yesterday's Speech from the Throne. Sincerely I hope that every member of the House, no matter what political affiliation or region, can offer sincerity in pledging to work together to tackle the greatest crisis we have seen in our lifetime. Our time is now. Madam Speaker, thank you very much for giving me an opportunity and congratulations on your reappointment to the Chair.

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Mr. Clifford Small (Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, CPC)

Nov/24/21 10:16:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise here for the first time in the House as a gesture of support from the people of Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame to the distressed people of ravaged British Columbia. Newfoundland and Labrador is suffering its own devastation with seven wash-outs on the Trans-Canada near Port aux Basques. This is a very dangerous situation as the island has food reserves for only three days. On behalf of the people of my province tonight, will the government commit to sending aid to my province to get this highway fixed?

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Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal

Nov/24/21 10:17:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the member on his election to this House. I assure him that our government is committed to doing everything everywhere in Canada, from coast to coast to coast, if an emergency happens, and I am certain those processes are already under way.

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Mr. Mario Simard (Jonquière, BQ)

Nov/24/21 10:18:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's speech. He is a sensible, rational man. I would therefore like to ask him a very simple question. This evening, I asked the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition one time whether they agreed that we cannot just put out fires and that we need to prevent them. What we are seeing today are the effects of the climate crisis. Can my colleague tell me whether he agrees that one of the solutions would be to eliminate funding for the oil and gas industry?

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Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal

Nov/24/21 10:18:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to assure the member that dealing with the climate issues is the top priority of our government, and we have done so in the past many years. We are on track to get to net-zero emissions by 2050. With respect to avoiding the fires the member talked about, we have dedicated $500 million to train 1,000 new community-based firefighters to ensure we are ready for future fire seasons, and will work with the provinces and territories to provide firefighters the equipment they need to fight fires and stay safe, like Canadian-made planes to increase provincial aerial firefighting capacity.

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