44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 16, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/16/22 2:11:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last November, B.C.’s Fraser Valley experienced a massive flood. Thousands were evacuated as the Nooksack River in Washington state sent floodwaters pouring into Canada. Sumas prairie, the heart of Abbotsford's agricultural industry, suffered catastrophic losses of livestock, crops and buildings.
This week, city council approved a plan for long-term flood protection at a price of close to $3 billion. The goal is not just to rebuild old dikes, but to construct new flood-resilient infrastructure to 21st century standards. Modern engineering will not only keep us safe; it will avert billions of dollars in future economic losses.
In fact, hundreds of constituents have written to me asking the Liberal government to fund this infrastructure. Today, I will personally deliver those letters to the Deputy Prime Minister. I plead with her to listen to our cries for help and deliver the support we have asked for.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an all-too-sad reality that in fact climate change disproportionately affects indigenous communities. Of course, I will continue to work with all indigenous communities, including York Factory, on making sure their infrastructure is resilient and, as we rebuild and replace infrastructure, that it meets the climate challenges we are all facing together.
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- Jun/16/22 6:56:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the emerging food crisis. One of the things that we have identified in relation to the Ukrainian conflict is the need to open up the ports so this year's crop can be exported. The crops are ready to go, but they cannot leave. It appears that the shelling also targeted critical infrastructure.
I would like to know if there have been any developments and how Canada is involved in these negotiations to open up the ports.
In committee, we have also discussed the urgent need for temporary storage facilities in Ukraine. Canada could provide significant assistance in this respect. Could my colleague elaborate on that?
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- Jun/16/22 7:32:32 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or the FAO, said that the current global food shortage and the current risk of famine have two root causes: the war in Ukraine and climate change.
We have a collective duty, here in the House as well, to go green as quickly as possible in order to limit upheaval and ensure greater stability over the seasons so that there are fewer crop failures due to drought, as we saw last summer. This is urgent and it is very important. Clearly, this must all take place in an orderly manner with a predictable transition. That is what the government and we, the legislators, must propose and implement.
With respect to the war in Ukraine, yes, there are energy concerns. We are seeing the repercussions in Europe. In the very near term, Canada obviously cannot magically create pipelines or infrastructure to export its natural gas or oil. That would take 10 years.
The Bloc Québécois believes that the next 10 years would be better spent going green. The planet needs it, and we have an increasing number of examples at present.
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- Jun/16/22 8:12:07 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that was a big question, so please permit me just a moment.
On globalization, Canada is a world food provider. We cannot turn away from that. That is a reality. I think we have to look out both ends of the telescope. We need to build domestic capacity in Canada through local food infrastructure to help support, perhaps, import substitution, and Canada still needs to play a global role.
As it relates to food and war, my hon. colleague is absolutely correct. Russia right now is playing from the old playbook, trying to target a country's capacity to feed itself and feed the world. It is creating havoc. It is driving a conversation here domestically.
We need to continue to support Ukraine in its fight for all of us, because this is a playbook of the Russian Federation to try to create disruption in western countries that are committed to international rules-based order.
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- Jun/16/22 8:21:22 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the $25 million that I spoke about was an investment from the middle of the pandemic. In budget 2021, we increased the budget by $163 million for a series of initiatives to address food security in the north, which is very important.
We know that everything is more expensive for remote communities. There are no access roads or transportation. That is why we are also investing in building better infrastructure, roads and different ways to encourage transportation so that these communities can better look after their food needs.
It is going to take more than just one department to make this change happen. It will require initiative from the entire government and all levels of government, including indigenous governments. That is our initiative, and we will continue to find partners to address this serious issue.
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- Jun/16/22 8:29:12 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, yes, I absolutely will. I enjoy the work my hon. colleague and I do together at the agriculture committee.
We need both short-term and long-term responses. There is a call for an immediate cash injection, and I support those efforts. From a longer-term perspective, Canada has expertise. In my time at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, I often spoke, and it was referenced earlier by the member for Beauport—Limoilou, about the analogy of fishing and giving a person a fish compared to teaching a person how to fish to reduce the need for further fish down the road. The third stool, which is not often talked about, is access to the pond.
I believe the hon. member's question concerns that third component. We need to not only teach and provide Canadian expertise in other parts of the world, but also give access to the pond so they can fish. There is that seed bank of Kharkiv, as well as other efforts. As Canadians, we have to develop the infrastructure in other parts of the world, and that is something that can absolutely be supported.
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- Jun/16/22 10:09:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, one of the things that it is important for us to do, as a government, is to ensure that we are making investments with partners to ensure that the work that is being done on mines like this one is done in a way that protects the environment and natural resources, and ensures that we are leading when it comes to ensuring that our food security and food stability, and the production of potash, is done in a way that is environmentally sustainable and protects our planet.
That is the way of the future. We cannot do the things we have done in the past. We need to use innovation. We need to make those investments to ensure that companies such as BHP do the work that is required to do things in a sustainable manner to protect our environment and our environmental infrastructure.
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