SoVote

Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

Apr/5/22 2:09:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Vancouver Rogues are Canada's first gay and inclusive rugby club, originally active from 2001 to 2009. The club has been revived for the 2021-22 B.C. Rugby Union season, sponsored by the Meraloma Rugby Club. The Rogues plan on being a permanent team with a mission to support under-represented communities in sport and to fight homophobic and transphobic behaviours both in sport and society. Last weekend's 52:10 win against Abbotsford rugby football club is the Rogues' first victory of the season and first win ever in club history. As a member of the opposing team, I offer a huge congratulations to the Rogues on their victory. This August, the Rogues will represent B.C. at the Bingham Cup in Ottawa, the largest biannual amateur rugby tournament in the world. It brings together over 2,500 like-minded players from 60 countries to celebrate diversity and inclusivity and to show the world that rugby truly is a sport for everyone. I look forward to seeing the Rogues kicking drop goals, rucking hard and tackling barriers in the years to come.

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Context: House Hansard - 53 - Apr/5/22

Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

Apr/5/22 6:37:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, time and time again I have risen in the House to bring to the government's attention the flooding and wildfire disasters in my riding and the horrific impacts they have had on my communities. I would be remiss if I did not mention that this is budget week and the window of opportunity to receive funds to help repair many of the damages that British Columbians have suffered is quickly closing. In October 2021, I met with the City of Abbotsford along with other members of Parliament to discuss the city's request to the provincial and federal governments for dike infrastructure upgrades. During that meeting, we talked about the record of the City of Abbotsford, which has been making these requests for many years, and even the fact that the member for Langley—Aldergrove, the member for Abbotsford and I were in a meeting with the mayor just a few weeks prior, before the floods happened, talking about the need for the federal government to work with the province and the municipality to address these major infrastructure gaps. When the first request was put in about a decade ago, at the time, estimated upgrades for the dikes would cost approximately $500 million. Fast-forward to a few months ago, and the cost to upgrade flood mitigation infrastructure has skyrocketed. The City of Abbotsford put forward four options to mitigate the threat of the Nooksack River overflowing its banks again. The options ranged in cost from $209 million, which would restore us to the previous standard and offers little protection, to a whopping $2.8 billion, which would provide protection for Matsqui, Sumas and Clayburn Village well into the future. Clearly, what happened in my riding and across B.C. was a costly lesson to learn. Hesitation on the part of both provincial and federal governments of Liberal and Conservative stripes to get funding out the door cost our communities a heavy price, and the bill to build back continues to grow. We cannot afford any further delays in building flood mitigation infrastructure moving forward. We know there is going to be another flood. We know that we are going to face another disaster. It might be in 10, 15 or even 30 years, but right now the mind of Canada, as we have the government's attention, is on British Columbia. We have an opportunity to do something that is going to keep people safe for many decades to come. In the last number of weeks, I have probably stood more often on this issue than on any other I have spoken about. The Emergency Planning Secretariat, a local organization for 31 first nations, is calling for some of this work to be done. The Letse'mot community forum that I am part of, which means “one heart” in the Halq'eméylem language, has put forward many requests. I have also met with numerous indigenous bands in my riding: Sq'éwlets, Siska, Spuzzum, Shackan and Lytton First Nation. They are all calling on the federal government to improve emergency responses on indigenous lands. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to protect British Columbia. Now is the time for the government, in the budget on Thursday, to put forward the taxpayer funds to protect British Columbia. I am pleading with the government to give more than $5 billion. Just Abbotsford alone will cover half of that, and we have not even talked about Merritt and other small communities in the Fraser Canyon that cannot afford to pay for the infrastructure upgrades that are required. Taxpayer dollars are needed. I plead with the government to put them in the budget in the next couple of days.

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Context: House Hansard - 53 - Apr/5/22

Mr. Brad Vis

Apr/5/22 6:45:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg for that summation and congratulate the public servant who wrote that. It was a job well done. It was a good summary. I have a couple of other points to quickly raise. The Duffy Lake Road was on the national news a lot when the disasters were taking place. Four people died on the Duffy Lake Road, largely due to mudslides. Much of that highway, which is very popular for tourists and British Columbians alike going into the back country, does not have cellphone reception even though it is a major arterial road and was the main conduit from the Okanagan into the Lower Mainland when many other roads such as Highway No. 1 were washed out. I am pleading with the government to consider putting cellphone towers up as an immediate measure to keep people safe on the Duffy and to have adequate cellphone coverage. Equally, this remains an issue in other areas of my riding, such as parts of Highway 12 and other sections of—

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