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House Hansard - 47

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 28, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 47 - Mar/28/22
Mr. Yasir Naqvi (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)
  • Mar/28/22 6:43:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in response to the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove, I will start by saying that our thoughts remain with the families of those who have lost loved ones and all those affected by the floods, landslides and extreme weather conditions in British Columbia last November. Our government recognizes that this was a flooding event of extraordinary scale and scope. While the full causes of the event have yet to be determined, the Insurance Bureau of Canada has estimated the insured damages to be at least $550 million, and we know that climate change is making these kinds of events more frequent and more severe than ever before. The President of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister for Emergency Preparedness travelled to the province earlier this month to survey the rebuilding progress in some of the most severely affected regions, including Merritt and Abbotsford, and spoke directly to those whose homes have been impacted. The minister saw that the people of British Columbia are working hard to rebuild their lives. However, we agree with our hon. colleague that there is much more work to be done, not only to build back from this event, but to create more resiliency in our infrastructure and communities to mitigate the impacts of future disasters. We have made a commitment to British Columbia and those impacted by these floods that our government will be there for them during the rebuild. That is why our government has formed a joint committee with British Columbia to work alongside indigenous leadership on immediate and ongoing support. Through this committee, we also discuss how we can enhance climate adaptation and response measures to better prepare communities for future events. Improving infrastructure resiliency was one of the top priorities the committee set out during its first meeting in December. The disaster financial assistance arrangements program, also known as DFAA, remains a key component of how the federal offers financial support to the provinces in the aftermath of these kinds of events. To speak to the effectiveness of the program, through the DFAA the federal government has paid out over $6 billion in postdisaster assistance to provincial and territorial governments since 1970. As I have previously confirmed to the House, the Government of British Columbia has submitted an initial request for support under the DFAA for November's flooding, and our officials are working together with their provincial counterparts to move this request forward. As we continue to work with the province on rebuilding from this disaster, we also continue to work on a number of measures to better prepare for and respond to weather-related events of all kinds. In 2019, we collaborated with federal, provincial and territorial partners, indigenous communities and municipalities to develop the emergency management strategy for Canada. This strategy sets out common priorities and areas for action when it comes to helping Canadians and their communities better predict, prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Through budget 2021, our government has allocated funding to complete flood maps for high-risk areas in collaboration with the provinces and territories. Budget 2021 also provided an additional $1.4 billion in funding to expand Infrastructure Canada's disaster mitigation and adaptation fund and to support projects such as wildlife mitigation activities, rehabilitation of stormwater systems and restoration of wetlands and shorelines. Finally, several ministers have been mandated to collaborate to develop a national climate change adaptation strategy and invest in reducing the impact of climate-related disasters, including flooding. I thank the member for his advocacy on this issue on behalf of his constituents, and I look forward to working with him as we develop solutions to better protect his communities and the rest of British Columbia.
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Context: House Hansard - 47 - Mar/28/22
Mr. Yasir Naqvi
  • Mar/28/22 6:48:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as the member opposite knows, we of course work very closely with our American partners. In this instance, it is important that we also work very closely with the Province of British Columbia. As I mentioned, we have formed a joint committee with the province to work alongside indigenous leadership on immediate and ongoing support and to better understand the future steps that need to be taken in terms of adaptation, from a climate change perspective, and in terms of infrastructure resiliency. That would also involve talking about cross-border issues, and I am sure, with the help of the member opposite and working with our colleagues in British Columbia, we will be able to come up with solutions that work best for all our communities.
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