SoVote

Nov/24/21 7:11:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, “being there” for the people of British Columbia means being there with more than 500 Canadian Armed Forces members to help them get through this terrible time. It means being there with investments and money to help people who have been displaced, to help them rebuild their homes and highways quickly and to help them get back to work. Yes, we are there, and those are not just words. We are backing those words up with action right now. I also want to point out that Canadians across the country are demonstrating tremendous generosity right now by sending help to the people dealing with these challenges. At the same time, “being there” means being there for decades to come. That is why we launched the most ambitious plan to fight climate change this country has ever seen. We are taking concrete action by putting a hard cap on oil and gas companies' greenhouse gas emissions and reducing those emissions, by putting a price on pollution, by investing to protect our land and oceans, and much more. We are there now, and we will be there for decades to come.

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Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Nov/24/21 7:12:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government spends a few hundred million dollars each year on climate adaptation, mainly through the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund. It is chronically oversubscribed. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities said, basically, that it should be 10 times that size. Where is the ambition? We need ambition here, just like we need ambition on climate mitigation.

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Right Hon. Justin Trudeau

Nov/24/21 7:13:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the ambition has been there since 2015 as we have invested record amounts in infrastructure, not only in response to disasters but in flood mitigation in and around Calgary, for example, in water controls throughout the Prairies, and in building back better after floods in central Canada and in the east. We have continued to invest in resilience and adaptation, and we will continue to. Yes, the disaster program is oversubscribed. We will continue to increase funding as we help communities and Canadians get through these difficult times.

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Hon. Bill Blair (President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Nov/24/21 7:14:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to have the opportunity to rise in the House to contribute to the discussion with my parliamentary colleagues about the tragic flooding that has been impacting British Columbia. I would like to begin by acknowledging the friends and families of those who have lost loved ones and all those who have been impacted by these floods, landslides and extreme weather conditions in B.C., not just during the most recent floods but also through the very challenging times last summer with wildfires occurring and the extreme weather event that also impacted that province. This is also an opportunity to extend our thanks and gratitude to the first responders, search-and-rescue volunteers, emergency managers and Canadian Armed Forces members who have been working tirelessly to keep people safe during this difficult time. I would also like to acknowledge community leaders, mayors, police chiefs, fire chiefs and ordinary citizens who demonstrated compassion, courage and extraordinary citizenship in standing up and being there for their fellow citizens. I would like to provide the House with a brief update. The situation on the ground overall continues to improve, in terms of dropping river levels and incremental progress on damage assessment, repair and restoration and community support. River advisories and warnings continue to be downgraded as river flows return to normal. The provincial emergency order remains in effect until December 1, and as we continue to work closely with the Province of British Columbia to support its recovery, Canadians can be assured that the federal government remains vigilant and will be ready to respond to all evolving threats related to this emergency. Last week, I received a request from the government of the Province of British Columbia for assistance. This included a request for air support to evacuate people affected by the floods, to reach important supply routes disrupted by the floods, to help vulnerable, stranded people in distress and to provide personnel to mitigate the effects of the floods, including protecting critical infrastructure, access roads and properties. I can advise the House that over 500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces have answered that call, and are deployed on the ground providing support and services to the people of British Columbia. We have also been working collaboratively to coordinate communications with the B.C. government and our colleagues to ensure that people are kept well informed to take actions to keep themselves safe and to recover from this very difficult experience. We remain committed to strengthening and addressing national standards for public alerts so that Canadians, regardless of where they live, will receive timely notification of any threats and have the knowledge to make informed and safe decisions. In times of emergency such as this, I am also pleased to note that many of us have been able to set aside our partisan affiliations to come together for the residents of British Columbia. Over the past week, I have had the privilege to meet with and to brief the local members of Parliament's constituents impacted most significantly by this flood. Both Conservative and NDP members have come together to meet with me and provide information and support to ensure that I was informed. They have been extremely active in bringing forward the concerns and needs of their constituents. I want to thank them for their collaboration and working together. I also want to advise the House that our government has initiated a whole-of-government response and has convened three meetings of the incident response group in order to respond. Each of the ministers of the government was asked to provide the steps they are taking to address the province's most pressing needs. As a small example, the Minister of Employment mentioned this past weekend that British Columbians who had lost their jobs or been displaced could and should apply for EI online as soon as possible, even without records of employment. To alleviate pressures on indigenous communities, Indigenous Services Canada's emergency management assistance program is providing $4.4 million to the First Nations' Emergency Services Society. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working very closely with the industry to support the humane and safe transport of animals and disposal of livestock that have died in this event. Health Canada is supporting its provincial health counterparts that have been so heavily affected by COVID, but also in their response to the recent flooding. The Canadian Coast Guard is engaged in responding to a large number of reports of drifting, sunken and beached vessels. There are many other examples. As a direct response to a request from the B.C. government, there has also been an effort to change the exemptions for people living in the Lower Mainland to cross into the United States to obtain gas and other essential goods, such as fuel. Notwithstanding some early inconsistencies, additional guidance has been offered to both CBSA and the Public Health Agency. I am informed that this is now working very effectively and we are taking care of those cases that were mishandled in the first place. Again, I would like to thank my colleagues for bringing those concerns forward and enabling us to quickly and effectively answer those questions. There are a number of other things I am happy to share with my colleagues. I would invite those who have questions or concerns, or want to bring concerns of their constituents to my attention, to reach out to me. I will respond quickly and I am grateful for their help. I also see this debate today as an opportunity for us to reflect on how we can work together not only to reassure those who have been affected by the flooding, but to let them know we are focused on their needs by demonstrating our shared commitment to serving Canadians in some of the most difficult times they face. This also gives us an opportunity to perhaps be forward-leaning: not just reacting to what has transpired but changing the way in which we prepare for these events in the future. It allows us to acknowledge that in rebuilding from the damage that has impacted so many, we must also think about building back a more resilient Canada to ensure that critical infrastructure can withstand the impact of climate change. This was echoed yesterday in the Speech from the Throne, in which we acknowledged the need to take action to prevent and prepare for extreme weather events brought about by climate change. We are seeing an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters. On average, Canada is warming twice as quickly as the rest of the world, and our north three times as quickly. The science and experience of Canadians make this point clear: We must do more and we must act now to prepare this country for climate-impacted reality. The events of the past two years, including the pandemic, have shone a light on emergency management in Canada. Since January 2020, via the Government Operations Centre, the Government of Canada has supported 147 requests for federal assistance from the provinces and territories to respond to everything from the ongoing pandemic to wildfires, floods and winter storms. However, we cannot be solely reactive. We need to better prepare for emergencies and strengthen our infrastructure, and that is why the government has created the stand-alone Ministry of Emergency Preparedness. I want to thank the Prime Minister for his confidence in assigning me this new role. In this role, I will be reaching out to our partners across the emergency management spectrum, including all orders of government, indigenous leaders, industry, the voluntary sector, academia and partners across the federal government to advance the work in this area that is increasingly a priority. Together we will create a more resilient, sustainable approach to emergency management that will help Canada prepare to mitigate, respond to and recover from disasters and we will be undertaking an effort to build a national culture of emergency preparedness. This partnership approach has been evident in some of our most recent work. For example, at an FPT ministers' meeting we recently released the emergency management strategy for Canada, which identifies shared priorities that will strengthen Canada's resilience by 2030. The priority area in this strategy is to improve our understanding of disaster risks in all areas of society and how we can work together to minimize these risks. For example, in budget 2019, we funded public safety over five years to improve Canada's ability to predict and respond to hazards, developing a national risk profile in collaboration with federal, provincial and territorial partners, as well as municipal and indigenous partners. It is a strategic national disaster risk and capability assessment that uses scientific evidence and stakeholder input to create a forward-looking picture of Canada's natural disasters and risks. It is based on scientific findings from various departments, other jurisdictions and research institutes, and it is clear that we need to strengthen our readiness to respond quickly and effectively to disaster events. One example of this is the work we have been doing to fund and support the Canadian Red Cross. Through this funding, the Red Cross has been able to strengthen its capacity and bring its expertise to help Canadians in long-term care facilities, isolation sites, and testing and vaccination sites as well as to facilities to help those who have been displaced by natural disasters. We are also leading work on the co-development of Canada's first national adaptation strategy. This will help Canada respond to the shared reality of climate-change impacts by uniting all orders of government, indigenous people and private companies in a whole-of-society approach to climate-change adaptation. The impact in British Columbia reminds us that flooding continues to be the most frequent and costly natural disaster in Canada, causing on average over $1 billion in direct damage to homes, property and infrastructure annually. The events in British Columbia will significantly raise this average. An estimated $8.5 billion has been committed to provinces through disaster financial assistance arrangements since they were created in 1970; however, 97% of these costs have been incurred over the past 25 years, and we are seeing an exponential increase in these expenses. As the member opposite mentioned, there is also the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund for disaster financial assistance. All of those things will be available, but I want to assure him that, in our conversations with the provinces and territories, it is clear we have to make more significant investments to help our provincial and territorial partners build critical infrastructure that is sustainable, resilient and adaptive to the new climate reality.

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Mr. Tako Van Popta (Langley—Aldergrove, CPC)

Nov/24/21 7:24:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, about a month ago I, together with the members for Abbotsford and Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, met with the mayor of Abbotsford. My riding of Langley—Aldergrove touches the western part of Abbotsford. The mayor summoned us to this meeting to explain some of the weaknesses in the diking system around the Sumas Prairie, for which a request for federal funding of about $500 million had been turned down once again. In retrospect, that would have been money well spent on strengthening the diking system. Will the minister acknowledge that we are unprepared for the immediate realities of climate change and extreme weather events?

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Hon. Bill Blair

Nov/24/21 7:25:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his advocacy on behalf of the community. I know the mayor of Abbotsford well. I visited that town, and whenever I go to that town, I make a point of going to see the mayor. I know he is a strong advocate for his community. I also want to acknowledge the event that has just transpired with an absolutely incredible amount of rainfall falling in that basin, although I am a little reluctant to use the term “unprecedented”. That water is going in and obviously almost overcoming the existing diking system. I thank God it did not, and underscore that it is the result of the incredible work of people from Chilliwack coming down and helping to sandbag it at the Barrowtown Pump Station. This managed to save that circumstance. It is very clear that we need to make significant new investments. I can also tell members that there are approximately 120 Canadian Armed Forces members in Abbotsford today, and they are helping to restore that dike. In order to deal with that weather event, we are watching the weather very closely over the next several days. There will be up to 70 millimetres of rain falling in the Fraser Valley over the coming 10 or 11 days, so we are making sure that the infrastructure is there in the short term. In the long term, there is much more work to do.

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

Nov/24/21 7:26:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the minister's obvious sincerity today. In a debate like the one we are having this evening, we need to put partisanship aside and work together. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to express my deepest sympathy to our friends in British Columbia and let them know that they are in our thoughts. Some people are probably going through the worst moments of their lives today, or, at the very least, moments that they will never forget. Members have spoken about the future. It is good that we are doing everything that is being done right now, and we have to give it our all, because the present is what is important. We do, however, need to think about the future. I need to take the Liberal government, my esteemed friends on the other side of the House, to task for failing to follow through on the promises that it has been making for years to eliminate subsidies to oil companies. Does my colleague agree that the government needs to stop this madness?

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Hon. Bill Blair

Nov/24/21 7:27:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the Bloc's expression of solidarity in this time of great challenge for Canadians right across the country. We note this week, and in the past few weeks, that the problems have been centred very much in British Columbia, but we are seeing significant rain events impacting the people of Nova Scotia and now Newfoundland. Of course, the impact of floods has been even more difficult, in many aspects, in areas of Quebec, so I think there is agreement. There is national consensus that more must be done, and I think there is a growing consensus in this country, certainly shared by the members of the House, that we must take bolder and more ambitious climate action to address what is becoming far too obvious: the impact of climate change on the everyday lives and safety of Canadians. We are ambitious in our plans to address climate change, and we also understand that it is not just simply thinking it is necessary to build back a cleaner and greener economy for Canada. We also have to create a more resilient economy and society to ensure the safety of our communities and our citizens in their homes, and to maintain essential supply lines. All of those things are being impacted by climate events. We share the ambition, and we are committed to working hard with members to address the real impacts we are seeing every day that climate change is having on the lives of Canadians.

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Hon. Ed Fast (Abbotsford, CPC)

Nov/24/21 7:29:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the wonderful people of Abbotsford for continuing to support my work in the House and my representation of their interests as their MP. Notwithstanding the disaster that has befallen our community, I am confident that the people of Abbotsford are up to the enormous task of recovering and rebuilding from the calamity that has engulfed us. By now, Canadians will have heard, and indeed much of the rest of the world has taken notice, of the catastrophe that struck our peaceful Fraser Valley and other sections of southern British Columbia. Like Noah of old, we were told that a historic weather event was on its way, and the climatologists called it an “atmospheric river”. That was a term unfamiliar to most of us. We certainly had no idea how bad and devastating that event would be. In all of my years living in greater Vancouver and in the Fraser Valley, I have never, ever experienced so much rain. In fact, it rained so hard that the rainfall set records in 20 of our local communities. For example, Abbotsford had 173 millimetres of rain within a 24-hour period, Chilliwack had 219 millimetres and Hope had 252 millimetres all at one time, and the destruction was enormous. Creeks and rivers cascaded down mountainsides, overflowed their banks and surged across flood plains. Waterlogged hillsides collapsed and became rock and mudslides that buried and destroyed highways and bridges, rail lines, hydro and telecommunication lines, and other critical infrastructure. Culverts, drainage pipes and ditches were all overwhelmed. Roads were closed as massive puddles and ponds formed on many roadways throughout our region. Dikes were breached in many places, especially in Abbotsford. Our Barrowtown Pump Station was overwhelmed and was on the verge of collapse. Homes, businesses and farms became submerged. Whole communities, like Merritt and Princeton, had to be evacuated. Flooding also set off explosions and at least one fire that destroyed at least one business in Abbotsford. Manure pits were compromised and began polluting the gathering flood waters in the surrounding land. Livestock ran out of feed and thousands of animals drowned or had to be euthanized. In some communities, entire sewer and water systems were overrun and collapsed. Vehicles, machinery and other property were swept away, and 17,000 British Columbians across our province had to be evacuated. Communities such as Hope, Lytton and Chilliwack were left completely stranded as all transportation routes were cut off, at least temporarily. Hoarding and, sadly, even isolated looting has led to empty store shelves in some of our communities. In my hometown of Abbotsford, the situation went from bad to worse to desperate. Homes on hillsides began to flood as gutters and drainpipes could not handle the excessive rain. Then the Sumas River began to breach its dikes that had been constructed to drain Sumas Prairie some 100 years ago. To make matters worse, the Nooksack River in the state of Washington to the south of us also began to flood, and washed over the border into Canada and across Sumas Prairie. Riverbanks and roadbeds began to erode, compromising flood protection and the safety of travel on those very roads. As the flooding became worse, our number one priority was human safety, then it was animal rescue and lastly it was protection of property. The call went out for help from anywhere, from anyone, and our community stepped up big time. Local city officials, led by Mayor Braun, and B.C.'s Emergency Support Services supervised the logistical response on the ground and oversaw the evacuation of hundreds of residents to drier ground. The Canadian Armed Forces also helped out with this effort, evacuating people and animals from flooded areas and transporting equipment and feed to where it was most needed. Farmers from all over began helping each other move livestock to drier ground and clean up flooded homes and outbuildings. In fact, one story made it to the national news. It was about one of our residents who took his sea-doo out on the flood waters and helped pull cattle to safety, if members can imagine that. Organizations like our local churches offered food and shelter to those needing it. Organizations like Archway, the Salvation Army, the Mennonite Central Committee and the Red Cross also provided food, shelter, clothing and counselling, as did community volunteers, who offered their homes and food to stranded travellers in places like Hope. Our trucking industry mobilized and was able to deliver hundreds and hundreds of dump truck loads of fill to the dike breach at the Number 4 Road, thereby stanching the flow of water from the Sumas River and finally allowing the prairie to begin to drain. Gratefully, our local city workers, volunteers and armed forces were able to sandbag and keep the Barrowtown Pump Station operating. Thank goodness. Even performers Rosemary Siemens and Eli Bennett entertained displaced residents at Abbotsford's Tradex building at no charge. I was among a number of local MPs who travelled to Ottawa and met with a number of ministers from the federal government who are responsible for the federal flood response, including the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, whom I thank for taking the meeting, and the Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada. He was present as we shared thoughts with him on this immense disaster that is being borne by communities across British Columbia. We are deeply grateful to the thousands of Canadians who have stepped up to donate relief and to aid in recovery efforts. I send a special thanks to the University of the Fraser Valley, the Abbotsford Community Foundation and the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce for setting up the Abbotsford disaster relief fund to manage the outpouring of generosity from Canadians across our country. I want to repeat that. It is the Abbotsford disaster relief fund. Anyone who googles it will find it on the Internet. Again, I send a big thanks to Canadians across this great country of ours for stepping up, delivering, donating and helping out. There are serious economic consequences to this disaster. Both major rail lines, CP and CN, are badly damaged and will take time to be fully repaired. The good news is that today CP began to travel on its tracks again, and I understand that tomorrow CN will be doing the same. It is always nice to have a glimmer of hope on the horizon. I also note that Highways 1, 3, 5 and 7 have all been badly damaged by rock and mudslides and were closed for days. In fact, Highway 5, Coquihalla, will take a lot of time to restore to its former condition. It is a mess. Then there is the Vancouver port, which is Canada's largest. It has logistically been cut off from the rest of the country. That alone has stranded much of the 550 million dollars' worth of cargo that enters and leaves our port daily. Let us think of that. Cargo worth over half a billion dollars a day is going in and out of our port and it is stranded. Right now, it is impossible to send consumer goods and food eastward across the Rockies by truck and rail. Another thing many British Columbians forget is that 50% of all farm gate revenues in British Columbia emanate from Abbotsford. We are the heart of farming country in British Columbia, and much of that has been stranded. For example, as the flood got worse, our farmers found it increasingly difficult to buy feed for their cattle, chickens and other livestock. Dairy farmers desperately scrambled to get their cows to higher ground and ended up having to dump milk because there was no way to get it to the processors. The processors then had no way of getting their tasty products to other markets across Canada. Schools were closed as teachers were unable to move across the flood zone to teach students in another part of our region. Businesses and stores in or close to the flood zone were shut down, at least temporarily. Traffic in some parts of our region became badly snarled as key transportation quarters were shut down because of damaged roads and roadbeds, and that included the Trans-Canada Highway, Highway 1, which connects us to the rest of Canada. As the flooding recedes, it will take some time for engineers to determine the structural integrity of that major highway. Tens of thousands of cars and trucks travel that road every single day. There are massive economic consequences, as everyday trade and commerce have been badly disrupted. In fact, the pre-existing supply chain constraints that were already creating significant inflationary pressures on our economy and on Canadians have been exacerbated by this event. It will take years to assess the economic damage this flood will inflict upon our country. Suffice it to say that the damage and costs will be in the many billions of dollars. What are the human consequences? These are perhaps the most important ones. Sadly, at least four people have lost their lives as a result of this atmospheric river event. The education of our children has been disrupted. Businesses have been badly damaged and in some cases lost. Families have lost their homes, including heirlooms and memorabilia, and will need to rebuild and renovate. In many cases, insurance is non-existent or is insufficient to replace lost property. Some employees have lost their ability to work because of the flood. In other words, life in general has again, right after the COVID event, been disrupted, this time through a weather event. The emotional and mental health costs will be enormous. Where are we now? The minister is quite right: The flood waters are beginning to recede. However, sadly, more flood events are on their way. In fact, the first one appears to be arriving tonight. That is not good news, and there are a couple of other weather events right behind it. We are not through this yet. Again, we do not know how bad this will be, but it will put further pressure on our dike, pump and drainage systems. Farmers and displaced homeowners are now beginning to clean up their homes and barns, hoping for the best and that this is as bad as it is going to get. There is rotting debris everywhere, as might be expected, including canisters, barrels and containers carrying unknown substances. Some of these are almost certainly toxic. We know there are pesticides floating around on Sumas Prairie, which is not good. It is estimated that some 2,000 cattle have died in this flood and will quickly have to be removed and disposed of. Oil slicks have been identified from the air and attempts are being made to identify the source of those slicks. There is some other good news. Highway 7 is partially open and Highway 3 is open again. My hope is at least one or two lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway will soon be restored for traffic. Also, as more good news, the pumps at Barrowtown, the last defence before we are drowned by the mighty Fraser River, are still working, and the Sumas dike has been temporarily repaired and is holding. Sadly, there are those who chose our time of need and solidarity to engage in public finger pointing. It is a very small minority but they are out there. To be sure, the time for finger pointing will come. There is more than enough blame to go around for our failure to be fully prepared for this event. However, right now, as my colleague from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon has repeatedly said, it is time for all hands on deck and for a team Canada approach to this disaster. I appreciate the minister's remarks as well. He clearly wants to be part of this team Canada approach. We stand with him in helping the residents of the Fraser Valley and the rest of British Columbia recover from this event. What have we learned from this massive weather event? First, time is not on our side. These kinds of events will occur with increasing regularity. The effects of a changing climate are becoming increasingly self-evident as we experience more heat domes, forest fires, droughts, massive rainstorms and other types of weather events. Second, we were not prepared for this event, even though we should have seen it coming. In fact, I have in my hands a report that is less than a year old from the city council of Abbotsford. It highlights the efforts that have been made over the years to try to address the flood problem in Abbotsford. It is less than one year old. Everybody is implicated. There was even an international task force struck, which included representatives from federal, provincial and municipal governments, and the Americans, so this should have come as no surprise to us. The bottom line is that we all knew what the risks were and should have seen it coming, but nothing substantive was ever done about it. Third, our advanced emergency warning system was not timely or rigorous enough. Had we taken warnings seriously, surely some of our residents would have been able to evacuate earlier and save their animals and property. Fourth, we have also learned that our diking and other drainage infrastructure is much too old and insufficient to handle future events like this. Dikes will need to be raised and upgraded to modern seismic standards. Riverbanks will need to be reinforced to ensure they are able to withstand future rain events. Fifth, we will need to re-evaluate the future flood risks of the Fraser River giving way, pouring over the banks and breaching our dikes, which providentially it did not, and the extent to which we will prohibit the dredging of that river in order to preserve fish habitat. Let me be clear. Habitat is critical to the long-term sustainability of our fisheries, but there is also human life and property to consider. The reality is that increasing numbers of sand bars in the Fraser River are redirecting the river flow against these old existing dikes, which is eroding the foundations of this aging infrastructure. Therefore, I say to the ministers of the environment, fisheries, infrastructure, public safety and emergency preparedness that the federal government must act immediately to address this problem, and it is an expensive one. Our country will also need a comprehensive adaptation plan to address future weather-related events like this one. I noticed that yesterday's throne speech referenced the government's intention to develop a national adaptation strategy. This all sounds fine and dandy, but I certainly hope it is not another one of the Prime Minister's empty virtue-signalling promises. This strategy and corresponding plan will take massive investments in infrastructure, into the billions of dollars. This strategy must also call for greater awareness to be built into our local government planning and regulatory processes to ensure we beef up resiliency. Finally, the recovery effort will require significant funding and logistical support from all levels of government. I know we all mourn the loss of life that this flood has brought about and the massive loss and displacement that has taken place throughout southern British Columbia. Gratefully, Abbotsford has not yet seen loss of life. I know from speaking to my constituents that they have not lost hope for a brighter future yet to come, but the responsibility rests with us, their properly elected federal representatives, to secure that future and ensure future generations can live the Canadian dream. In the coming weeks and months, we Conservatives will be calling on the Liberal government to step up and be counted in delivering the necessary support to communities such as Abbotsford that have been devastated by this flood. We will be calling upon the government to make the smart yet expensive investments that will keep our people and property safe. We will call upon the Liberal government to partner with the province and the U.S. to ensure that, in the future, more timely advance notice of such events is given to affected communities. In closing, even though we British Columbians are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from our Canadian family during this time of need, I know with absolute certainty that we can and probably should have done better. We should have been better in planning for such disasters, better in adapting, better in making long-term investments for public safety, and better in supporting each other through timely communications and information-sharing. The devastation of this rainstorm did not have to happen, but it did. Let us learn from it. Future generations are counting on us. I look forward to my colleagues' questions.

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Mr. Jaime Battiste (Sydney—Victoria, Lib.)

Nov/24/21 7:50:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my prayers and my thoughts are with the people of the member's riding, just as they are with those in my riding of Sydney—Victoria, which is seeing unprecedented rain. In some places it is 200 millimetres of rain. They are seeing bridges coming out and unprecedented flooding. I am glad that we are talking about lessons learned in this House. I am reminded of a lesson from Chief Seattle in that area. In 1854 he said, “Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” I wonder what we are learning. The member mentioned learning things about preparedness and the money we have to invest moving forward. I wonder if the member could comment on what lessons we, as the House of Commons, need to take forward on how we should be better treating our environment, or the “web of life” that we are a part of, not in charge of. The “web of life” that we belong to.

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Hon. Ed Fast

Nov/24/21 7:50:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would respond that the “web of life” he refers to is part of a changing environment. Adaptation is absolutely critical. We are finding that out more and more. The other lesson I draw from this terrible event is the fact that we, as a senior level of government, actually have the power and the resources to address these issues by investing in advance and upfront. For example, in my community of Abbotsford, there have been no major diking investments since early in the Harper years when I think $6 million was given to the local community to upgrade dikes. This is not a million-dollar problem. It is a billion-dollar problem because it affects the Fraser River from Chilliwack all the way down to Richmond. If those dikes were to breach, it would be a calamity of a scale we cannot even begin to imagine. Invest now. I implore you, as members on the government side, to impress upon the Minister of Finance to incorporate into the next budget a significant component to address improving and upgrading our existing infrastructure, and expanding it so that we will never have this kind of a calamity again.

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The Speaker

Nov/24/21 7:52:25 p.m.
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Once again I want to remind hon. members to place their questions through the Chair and not directly across. I know we get impassioned. Questions and comments. The hon. member for Jonquière.

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Remarks addressed to the Chair

Mr. Mario Simard (Jonquière, BQ)

Nov/24/21 7:52:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to take just a few seconds to thank the good people of Jonquière who have placed their trust in me once again, as well as my wife, Line Vachon, who is affectionately known as Staline, the dictator of love. I would like to tell my colleague from Abbotsford that in 1996, the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region went through something similar. I want to reiterate my full support. As I recall, after 1996, there was an issue no one has mentioned yet tonight. Many people were traumatized. A research chair was established at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi to study these kinds of traumas and mental health issues. If he wishes, I would be happy to put him in contact with the right people. I would be happy to share that information. He talked about a fund in Abbotsford. It would be great if all parliamentarians could distribute that information.

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Hon. Ed Fast

Nov/24/21 7:53:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for those very generous remarks, and I take him up on the offer. If he wants to send me that information, I would welcome it. I did not sense there was a question there. I do sense that around this House there is a clear understanding that these kinds of crises can be averted. We cannot stop the weather from happening. We can certainly do our part to address the challenge of climate change. However, these events are going to continue to happen on an even more regular basis. We do have tools available to us to reduce or completely eliminate the harm to human beings and to property. Let us use those tools together. We would be serving our constituents and Canadians very well by doing so.

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Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Nov/24/21 7:54:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is British Columbia's third state of emergency just this year. The climate crisis is here and it is hurting communities. It is displacing people, and it is costing lives. We need to spend what it takes on disaster management, adaptation and supporting the communities who have been impacted. We also need to spend what it takes on tackling the climate crisis and reducing emissions. However, when it comes to reducing emissions, Canada has the worst record of any G7 country. Does the member agree that the government needs to take immediate, bold action to tackle the climate crisis and help prevent disasters like the ones my home province is experiencing right now?

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Hon. Ed Fast

Nov/24/21 7:55:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is our home province. I would agree with the member that over the years the current government has set targets, has never been on a trajectory to meet those targets, and then sets higher targets. Of course, it is not on the trajectory to meet those targets, and it set a net-zero by 2050 target. The Prime Minister knows he will not be around to have to defend or justify his failure. It is easy to virtue signal and set targets that they know they are never going to meet. I would think that we as Canadians are now prepared to be firm, to put in place a plan that sets out realistic targets and to have a firm plan to meet those targets. I know the Prime Minister will claim that his plan is going to meet those targets. There is nothing in his past performance to show that his future performance will live up to those promises. That is the standard I look at. What has he done in the past, and what will he do in the future? His past performance does not give us much hope. I hope he is going to be better, going forward, but right now we are looking at a failed climate policy from the government.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Nov/24/21 7:57:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not having had the chance to say so earlier this week, I want to start by offering you my heartfelt congratulations on your election on behalf of the Green caucus. Your role in this 44th Parliament is a critical one, and I know you are already doing it with grace and integrity. As I rise to speak, and since it is my first time speaking here, I am struck by the sanctity of this place, the House of Commons. For however long I am given the honour to sit in this House, I hope this sense of awe is never extinguished because with it comes a sense of responsibility to discuss constructively, to disagree without being disagreeable and most of all to be respectful in this place. I would also like to publicly thank my neighbours in Kitchener Centre for placing their trust in me. My question this evening picks up on one asked yesterday by the hon. member for Victoria. Fossil fuels are the primary contributor to the climate crisis, accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As such, we must stop burning oil, gas and coal at a pace scientists, such as those at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have called for. In Canada, this means at least a 60% reduction by 2030, and we must be honest with ourselves. It is the combustion of fossil fuels that in turn fuels the climate emergency and the extreme weather that has led to this emergency debate, to lives lost and to infrastructure crumbling in B.C. However, in the midst of this state of emergency, our federal government continues to subsidize the domestic oil and gas sector, with an estimated $17 billion in 2020. Does the hon. member not agree it is time to reinvest these funds in people working in the oil and gas industry, in their future and in the communities hardest hit, which need the funds not only to recover, but also, as the member has mentioned, to adapt?

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Hon. Ed Fast

Nov/24/21 7:59:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am a bit disappointed with the member's question. Here we are debating perhaps the disaster of our lifetime, a historic disaster across southern British Columbia. This is not about a fight over oil and gas. This is about the people of Abbotsford, the Fraser Valley, the Fraser Canyon and the interior of British Columbia who are suffering immensely right now. They do not want to have a fight right now about oil and gas. What they want is an assurance from the government that it will be there for them and that in the future the government will deliver the kinds of infrastructure investments that will ensure this never happens to them again.

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Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Nov/24/21 8:00:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate you on your re-election to the chair. Since this is the first time that I am rising in this 44th Parliament, I want to take the opportunity to thank the people of Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia who placed their continued trust in me. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank my Green Party colleagues for requesting this evening's emergency debate. I really appreciate the presence of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to express my solidarity with everyone affected by the current catastrophe. I want them to know that we are prepared to work with all parliamentarians to ensure that British Columbians get the appropriate support. As we know, torrential rains have caused flooding in the Fraser Valley region, and it has cost four people their lives. The flooding has also had a major impact on infrastructure. This atmospheric river dumped 300 millimetres of rain on the region in two days, November 14 and 15, and the region is still experiencing bad weather. We know that the soil can no longer absorb any water. The water is running off instead of being absorbed and it is destroying everything in its path. This is a natural consequence of an imbalance in nature, which stems from the forest fires that ripped through British Columbia a few months ago. On top of that, according to Environment Canada, a new storm is set to hit the region this evening with another 40 to 80 millimetres of rainfall in the forecast. The flooding in British Columbia could become the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. I want to reiterate that our hearts go out to the people of British Columbia. We are far away, but we have seen the extent of the damage and know how much it hurts. I have seen videos of farmers on personal watercraft on what is left of their fields trying to save their livestock. Thousands of animals were left behind and the huge dairy and poultry operations have been hard hit. The highway system linking southern British Columbia to the rest of Canada has been cut off. The city of Vancouver is cut off from the rest of the country. It is absolutely incredible. A hundred or so indigenous communities have been affected and several are waiting for supplies to arrive via helicopter. I want to commend the teams who are on the ground day and night to provide humanitarian support to the communities affected. The Deputy Prime Minister announced that the federal government will provide financial support for future reconstruction efforts, and we support that decision. It is in times like these that we understand the importance of pulling together, of prevention, of reconstruction and of building resilience. This evening's debate is not about whether this disaster is directly or indirectly related to climate change. The fact is that climate change will lead to more frequent extreme climate phenomena and increase their impact on our way of life and our societies. Sadly, this particular disaster in British Columbia is just a taste of the challenges to come. To address increasingly common extreme weather events, governments have to boost the scale and speed of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. That is the mitigation piece. The same goes for the adaptation piece, which includes things like upgrading infrastructure to withstand the effects of climate change. We need to direct more money and more effort to mitigation and adaptation right away. We should have done it sooner. Right now, we have to focus on cleaning up the mess and standing by British Columbians, but we also need to look to the future and prepare for more situations like this one. We cannot afford not to. As I said earlier, at this point, it is difficult to say for certain whether these events are directly related to the climate crisis. However, it is clear that the major droughts that caused the forest fires just a few months ago and the current floods are, unfortunately, probably not merely a coincidence. That said, what should we do now? What can we do to prevent future disasters? That is the question, and the government needs to address this. I have just returned from COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland, where everyone was full of good intentions and acting in good faith. We even had a day when the theme was adaptation and mitigation. Although some good things did come out of it and some ambitious promises were made, there was certainly nothing to prepare us in the short term for situations like this. That is why we in the Bloc Québécois want to emphasize the importance of an energy transition. We know it will cost a lot of money, but doing nothing will cost even more, from a financial and human perspective. We must take advantage of the economic recovery to seek out this more-than-necessary energy transition and build a society that is more resilient to the consequences of climate change, including the frequency of extreme weather events. In summer 2020, the Bloc Québécois developed a green recovery plan. During the last election, we proposed creating a fund dedicated to protecting shorelines and fighting erosion. We cannot help but be frustrated when the government claims to be a leader in the fight against climate change, but does not in fact apply the changes that are needed to engage in the energy transition and move away from fossil fuels. Yesterday, we heard the Speech from the Throne. After an election that did not seem necessary, we wondered about the urgency of opening a new Parliament that is not much different from the last Parliament and is facing the same problems it was facing before the election. In the end, we wasted time and in a climate crisis, we cannot say this enough, time is of the essence. Island nations, developing countries, the poorest countries, those that produce the least amount of greenhouse gases but are ironically the most affected by the effects of climate change, they are all afraid that we are running out of time. The eternal optimists are afraid that we are running out of time, and scientists know that we are almost out of time. We will be out of time if we do not make changes. We will be out of time if we continue in the same direction. We are dreaming if we think that we will be able to cap greenhouse gas emissions, when the Canadian oil industry has announced that it will increase production in the coming years. We are headed straight for a wall and are not doing what needs to be done. There is so much to do, and we were expecting at least something, anything. The generic, empty rhetoric in the throne speech chapter on climate action is not reassuring in the slightest. I would remind members that Quebec is a leader on combatting climate change. Quebec has what it takes to make the green transition and build a real and resilient green economy. The rest of Canada should take note. Continuing to invest in fossil fuels will not be good for the Canadian economy in the long term. We need to change our ways now. We cannot talk about adaptation and mitigation without talking about infrastructure. The last few months have proven that the regions of Quebec, like everywhere else, particularly British Columbia, need help adapting to climate change. Shoreline erosion and receding shorelines are one example. Our regions are also not immune to the devastating effects of natural disasters. The fight against climate change must focus on mitigating the effects of these changes and adapting to them. For years, the Bloc Québécois has been taking ongoing action to prevent shorelines from receding and eroding. I would like to take this opportunity to remind members that there used to be a federal program that provided funding for shoreline protection. It was abolished and never reinstated. During the last election, we proposed the creation of a fund to fight erosion with an annual funding of $250 million. The funding must be recurrent and predictable. In Saint‑Maxime‑du‑Mont‑Louis in the Gaspé, Highway 132 collapsed and was washed away by the ocean. That is the kind of thing that is likely to happen again. Do not even bother trying to buy a house along the river in Sainte‑Luce‑sur‑Mer in my riding. No insurance company on earth will insure it. They all know it is just a matter of time until the house gets completely flooded. That is what happened in 2010. In Sainte‑Luce and in Saint‑Flavie, which is also in my riding, dozens of houses were flooded and dozens of families displaced. That is what is going on right now in British Columbia. Thousands of people have been affected by these floods. That is why merely fixing the damage caused by weather events is not enough. We have to prevent that damage in the first place. Unfortunately, the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, $3 billion over 10 years, is not up to the task of building the kind of infrastructure we need to counteract the negative effects of climate change. The throne speech talked about investing in preventing and preparing for some of the negative impacts of climate change and about a national adaptation strategy. We need to make sure the government works with the provinces and Quebec, not against them. We have to work together. That brings me to mitigation. People have long criticized the fact that Canada has never met its greenhouse gas reduction targets and continues to hand over massive subsidies to Canada's oil and gas industry rather than investing in renewable energy and developing the green economy. Unfortunately, the great strength of this government when it comes to climate is its incredible ability to announce targets and make promises to give the appearance of doing something other than funding fossil fuels and other high-carbon industries through our taxes. It takes more than just using the words “fight against climate change” or “green growth” or “green jobs” to have a policy and a solid action plan to truly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the transition. The Liberal government needs to find the courage to turn its back on oil and gas. Annoucing targets without any supporting evidence and indicating intentions does not have any real value. We need measures, action and a credible and transparent plan. We have the promises, but we are still waiting for the plan. I feel like asking the government whether it is prepared to state that we must no longer authorize any new oil development project throughout the land and we must gradually reduce oil production, whether it believes that all of Canada should follow the lead of the Government of Quebec, which announced the real end of oil and gas? The Liberals will probably want to respond to that question by repeating their promise to cap emissions in the oil and gas sector. However, their promise does not contain a plan to phase out coal, oil and gas. The Liberals claim that these industries can be environmentally viable by making their production less carbon-intensive. They will surely tell us that this is not within their jurisdiction, but they still bought a pipeline. That makes me think about the outcome of the Glasgow climate pact. Ten days of negotiations resulted in a pact that does not even mention fossil fuels. Nothing. Not one word or phrase that acknowledges that fossil-fuel development is one of the main contributing factors to the climate crisis. There were, of course, protests, from civil society as well. The words were finally included in the pact, in a nice, long sentence that ultimately does not say much. At the end of the day, the countries committed to “accelerating the phaseout of...inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels”. The phrase “accelerating efforts” does not even compel us to make an actual effort, and the word “inefficient” implies that efficient subsidies exist. That makes no sense. It is discouraging. Quite honestly, I have to wonder where Canada was when it was time to oppose the last-minute amendments from China and India. I also wonder, as my leader so aptly put it, why the Government of Canada representatives did not show some backbone and stand up and oppose that kind of watered-down statement that legitimizes government aid to the most polluting industries in the midst of a climate crisis. That text essentially tells the governments of nearly 200 countries that that is okay and that we can continue to finance the climate crisis. That is what came out of a global climate conference, whose goal was to do everything possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C. We will not achieve this if we continue to subsidize oil, gas and coal. While we are on the subject of the government's climate action, the Liberals have finally committed to eliminating fossil fuel subsidies after giving the fossil fuel industry $10.7 billion a year, and that does not include the staggering cost of Trans Mountain. There is always a catch, however. Unfortunately, we have good reason to be concerned about the new forms these subsidies will take. The Office of the Auditor General asked the government back in 2019 to define what it meant by the term “inefficient subsidy”. The Department of Finance still refuses to provide a definition. This new Liberal promise therefore gives us reason to fear that the new fossil fuel subsidies will now be camouflaged subsidies. What is worse, taxpayers will be giving their money to Canadian oil and gas companies in the name of fighting climate change. How much money will Canada waste helping polluters pollute less when it could be helping innovative companies to create the economy of the future? Canada's grey-hydrogen strategy and the dubious promises regarding carbon capture, use and storage technologies have already made it clear that the government's inaction is going to come with a hefty price tag. We are already paying millions of dollars to develop untested technology that will be implemented years from now when it is too late to help Canada meets its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target. All of that to produce so-called greener oil and gas rather than making the real ecological and energy transition. If that is what fighting climate change means to this government, then we need to learn, starting today, to see these costly quick-fix proposals that the government is spending money on in the name of fighting climate change for what they really are. These investments are just new camouflaged subsidies for the Canadian oil and gas industry. Are they ready to make a real energy transition? If so, can they commit, right here in the House, to ending Canada's gas, coal and oil industry for good? Are they willing to say that green oil does not exist? That is the kind of thing we would like to hear. As I said, we need to show solidarity with British Columbia now more than ever. The federal government hopefully knows what it needs to do to help that region in the short term, but it also needs to implement a plan now to prevent extreme weather events like this one, which will become more and more frequent in the future. I reiterate the Bloc Québécois's willingness to work with parliamentarians to immediately provide the support needed and to come up with the solutions that must be implemented in the future.

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Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)

Nov/24/21 8:16:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a certainly a pleasure to rise. I would like to thank my colleague from Quebec for her sympathy with British Columbians who are going through a very difficult time. While the focus of this debate should be on that, she did bring in a bit of a wider scope. Before I ask my question, I want to say that I agree with her. The government, in the throne speech, talked about an adaptation strategy that would be due in 2023. This is the same government that promised in 2019 to plant two billion trees. My family has planted more trees than the government from that initiative. The member has mentioned the Bloc does not support the use of subsidies to oil and gas developed in Canada. Does she and the Bloc believe that carbon capture utilization and storage count as a subsidy?

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