Hon. Michael L. MacDonald: Welcome, minister. Minister, certain parts of Atlantic Canada were hit hard by Hurricane Fiona, certainly the southwest coast and the gulf coast of Newfoundland — you’re familiar with that — all the Atlantic seaboard of Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island as well was hit particularly hard.

Two days ago, you posted the following on Facebook:

The impacts of Fiona were hard hitting, and they continue to be, especially as we move into winter months.

That’s why I am so happy to hear that my friend and colleague Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has announced that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency . . . will now begin accepting applications through the Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund to help support communities in hard hit sectors in the Atlantic that are not eligible for other financial support.

In the face of such an emergency, what took the government so long to make an application form available to the communities and businesses affected by Hurricane Fiona? Why would it take over two and a half months?

Hon. Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development: Senator, you’re correct: Hurricane Fiona hit hard in Eastern Canada and, yes, in my home province. When the hurricane hit, the province reached out right away under a request for assistance, we were there and put the military in place.

The other aspect of financial assistance to any area — and this program has been around in Canada for years — is the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements with the provinces and territories. That’s where the province has a covey of items that they can pull from where they say, “Yes, we will go to the federal government and we want these items covered.”

The money that Minister Petitpas Taylor announced the other day is for things that we now know are falling through the cracks of what the province asked for under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement. I can tell you the applications are coming in, and Minister Petitpas Taylor is getting them out right away.

We know that housing and municipal infrastructure will be covered under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement. Like I said, these are things that are falling through the cracks — perhaps your community centre didn’t come under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement, for example. This was put in place to cover the things that the provinces didn’t request under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement. It’s another pot of money.

Look, we know this hurricane is probably going to cost us well in excess of what was expressed. In the Fall Economic Statement, Minister Freeland said she put aside a billion dollars for this. That’s on top of the $300 million from Minister Petitpas Taylor. We will be there to support all —