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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Nov/24/21 5:01:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is a really tough conversation, because I really respect my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent. I am concerned about people coming to work with COVID or someone who might have symptoms of COVID being tempted to come to work, when they should be in quarantine and be staying at home, because they feel like their privilege will be violated and they will not have a chance to bring forward the concerns of the people who just elected them. What we are proposing here is to have the hybrid Parliament. People are expected to show up for work, but perhaps they feel like they are showing symptoms or that they are immune-compromised. There are those who have young babies. It is so nice to see young babies here in Parliament. We talk about a family-friendly Parliament, and finally we have people who are running for election who are pregnant or having babies and feel comfortable about bringing them in here, but they cannot get vaccinated. To ensure they have a voice in this Parliament, and that their privilege is not going to be restricted, is really critical. The other thing is that we have staff working here. It is our duty not just to protect each other, but to protect the staff. We have young pages. Many of them are afraid, right now, to come to work, because they are worried someone is going to be tempted to show up here with symptoms. Does my colleague not believe that we should create a safe workplace here and that we should do everything we can to ensure that everybody's privilege is intact and that they have an opportunity to have their voice in a fourth wave of a COVID crisis? This crisis is not over.

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Context: House Hansard - 3 - Nov/24/21

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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Context: House Hansard - 3 - Nov/24/21

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Nov/24/21 11:00:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to make note in the House that between 2006 and 2011, floods cost Canada about $120 million. Between 2010 and 2015, it was $360 million. Between 2016 and 2018, it grew to $430 million a year. Now we are at over $1 billion. The PBO projected in 2014 that if we kept going the way we were going, floods and fires were going to cost us $43 billion to $50 billion a year. What a deficit to leave to future generations. The member talked about investing heavily and taking bold and courageous action. The Liberals are investing $2 billion over 10 years. Bold and courageous is cancelling the Trans Mountain pipeline, which is $17 billion, and ending oil and gas subsidies, which are $18 billion. Let us start spending the money, the $43 billion to $50 billion a year that we are leaving, on my kids and most of our children and grandchildren now instead of shouldering them with the deficits. The Conservatives talk about inflation. Just wait. Insurance rates are going to go through the roof. Let us protect future generations by investing now in the right thing.

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