- Member of Parliament
- Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
- Liberal
- Surrey Centre
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $147,142.20
- Government Page
- Dec/8/21 10:31:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to rise in committee of the whole. This evening, I will speak to Global Affairs' international assistance and the estimates as they relate to the international development portfolio before asking questions.
The international development landscape has evolved significantly in the last two years. The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated inequalities and reversed decades of development gains. Meanwhile, the global community also faces serious conflicts and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti and elsewhere. These crises demand our immediate attention.
At the same time, climate change is having alarming impacts on the least developed countries and small island developing states. We are seeing increases in drought, flooding, heat waves, crop failure and biodiversity loss. As we near the pandemic's two-year mark, we must keep these challenges in mind and look ahead to shaping a more sustainable, green and prosperous recovery.
Globally, there have now been more than 260 million cases of COVID-19 and five million deaths. New and worrying variants continue to emerge. The pandemic has had many wide-ranging socio-economic impacts, greater social inequality, disproportionate economic vulnerabilities and burdens, and strained health systems. Many of these impacts are expected to be long-lasting worldwide, but especially in developing countries.
While 76% of Canadians are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, vaccination rates in lower-income countries are severely lagging. Across the African continent, only 7.5% of the population is fully vaccinated. We are already seeing how vaccine inequality increases overall inequalities. It is reversing development gains, particularly for women, girls and marginalized populations.
After five million deaths worldwide, there is growing recognition that a stronger preparedness and response is critical to countering future pandemics. This calls for the highest level of political engagement, with a strong focus on accountability, transparency and equity. Canada is acting on the findings and recommendations of COVID-19 review bodies. We are part of multisectoral and multistakeholder discussions on how to strengthen the global health ecosystem.
Even before the pandemic, humanitarian needs had been increasing. Driven by protracted conflict and the effects of climate change, the number of forcibly displaced people had reached over 82 million worldwide by the end of 2020. It is a number that has not been seen World War II.
The world also saw the single largest increase in global hunger ever recorded, with an estimated 41 million people on the brink of famine. In recent years, we have since a widespread rollback in respect for human rights and democratic freedoms. This poses a serious obstacle to sustainable development. The pandemic has laid bare long-standing governance challenges in all regions of the world, but particularly in developing countries that lack the public sector capacity to deliver services sustainably and equitably.
Canada is committed to improving the effectiveness of its international assistance to address these challenges. We will work with a diverse range of partners to take a whole-of-society approach that leaves no one behind.
Since February 2020, Canada has committed more than $2.6 billion in international assistance in response to COVID-19. More than $1.3 billion of these funds went to the access to COVID-19 tools accelerator, more commonly known as the ACT accelerator, to facilitate equitable access to COVID-19 medical countermeasures. We are strongly committed to the ACT accelerator and its pillars, including the COVAX facility and its advanced market commitment. Canada will donate the equivalent of at least 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the COVAX facility by the end of 2022.
Canada supports global efforts to stabilize developing economies and to bring about pandemic recovery. Through the Prime Minister's collaboration with the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Canada is working with the international community to develop practical responses to the pandemic's socio-economic and financial impacts. This work builds on Canadian leadership in financing the sustainable development goals over the last decade.
Canada has also committed to doubling its global climate finance contribution to $5.3 billion over the next five years. We will continue to explore ways to use these funds to mobilize additional financial resources to tackle the climate crisis.
Canada recognizes the pandemic's disproportionate impact on women. We are leading the call for greater attention to the matter of paid and unpaid case work. Canada recently announced $100 million to develop programs to address this issue in low- and middle-income countries. Throughout the pandemic, Canada's feminist international assistance policy has proven to be a robust strategic framework focused on supporting the poorest and the most vulnerable populations.
In parallel to our COVID response, we have continued to implement our pre-COVID core international assistance commitments to achieve results and impacts. For example, our women's voice and leadership initiative supports more than 400 women's rights organizations in over 30 countries and regions. Many of these organizations received fast responsive funding to help them adjust to the pandemic's impacts. We will continue to support this important work, including by doubling funding to women's rights organizations. We are also funding Canadian organizations that work in partnership with local organizations through the small and medium organizations for impact and innovation initiative.
These and other initiatives are reinforcing the resilience of local communities and supporting our wider sustainable development efforts. We are committed to implementing the feminist international assistance policy and to increasing our international assistance annually toward 2030.
Before I conclude, I would like to turn to the supplementary estimates.
In the 2021-22 supplementary estimates (B), Global Affairs Canada is seeking an increase of $683 million, bringing our total authorities to $7.6 billion. This includes investments announced in budget 2021, such as $375 million to continue supporting Canada's international COVID-19 responses, $165 million for international humanitarian assistance and $68.8 million for Canada's response to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Also included in the supplementary estimates is $75 million for the strategic priorities fund, which has enabled investments for unpaid and paid care work of $10 million; $50 million for the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust; and $15 million allocated to the COVAX Manufacturing Task Force to support the establishment of the South Africa technology transfer hub. With the recent spread of new variants of concern, these strategic initiatives will help build capacity to enable development and production of mRNA vaccines and technologies in the region.
In addition to the investments already mentioned, Global Affairs Canada has allocated $59.9 million in support for the Venezuela migrant crisis and pledged $300 million for the Global Partnership for Education. Through these efforts, we are achieving results and generating positive impacts, helping to build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world for all.
NACI has recently released some guidance on booster COVID-19 vaccine doses in Canada. Could the Minister of Health please tell us more about these new recommendations?
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- Nov/24/21 9:21:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of work to be done, absolutely. It is essential to control the growth of the temperature rising. As my colleague from Cloverdale—Langley City alluded to earlier, we must do more. Canada is warming faster than many other countries around the globe. We have a huge watershed in our Arctic that we have to preserve, which is kind of the coolant of the globe, and therefore we must do more. Otherwise, these disastrous events will happen.
We need support from across the aisle on this issue and it should be bipartisan or tripartisan with all parties in this matter.
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- Nov/24/21 9:09:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful that this emergency debate is taking place tonight to discuss the devastating flooding in my home province of British Columbia. As we anticipate more heavy rain coming this week, the actions that we take and the preparations that are made in the coming days will be very important to support those who will be impacted by future storms.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to all those affected by the destruction, particularly those in Merritt, Abbotsford, Chilliwack or Hope, including constituents of my colleagues in Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, from Abbotsford and from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.
The loss and devastation that we have seen over the past week is heartbreaking. There has been a loss of life, evacuations and people left stranded. Within just a few days, 18,000 were forced to leave their homes and critical infrastructure like highways and railroads in and out of the province were severely damaged.
I would also like to thank all of those who have been working around the clock to support the residents impacted and to those who have stepped up to help their neighbours in the face of these challenging times. British Columbians have faced a great deal of devastation caused by extreme weather and natural disasters. In its look back at the 2021 B.C. wildfire season, the CBC reported 1,600 fires across 8,700 square kilometres in the province this year alone.
This has been the third largest area impacted in recorded history in a summer filled with drought and record-breaking heatwaves. Just last month as we moved into autumn, a time when forest fire season would usually come to an end, we still had 140 fires burning in the province. The consequences of this year's wildfires could be a contributing factor to the flooding experienced in my region.
The B.C. Ministry of Forests described how after intense fire, soil can become repellent to water, causing water to run off and pool rather than be absorbed by the soil. This can lead to landslides and floods after heavy rains or quick-melting snow. This shows the ripple effects that climate change can have. The more extreme heat and natural disasters we experience, the more disasters they may trigger in the future.
If this is not a sign to climate change deniers that climate change is real and here, I do not know what else it will take. On this side of the chamber, we know that the science is clear: human activities are causing unprecedented changes to the earth's climate. Climate change poses significant risks to human health and safety of the environment. It impacts biodiversity and economic growth. Across the country each year, flooding alone leads to more than $1 billion in direct damages to homes, businesses and infrastructure. We know that we cannot afford to not address climate change.
We must continue to take swift and decisive action to address the consequences of climate change, work to lower emissions levels, reduce our consumption and find innovative solutions to reach net-zero. Our government is doing just that. In just the last year, our government has invested $60 billion toward climate action and clean growth and an additional $53.6 billion into Canada's green recovery. Since we formed government, we have invested $100 billion to address climate change.
By moving forward to cap and cut oil and gas sector emissions, we are making investments in public transit and mandating the sale of zero-emission vehicles. We are increasing our price on pollution and we are protecting our lands and rivers.
To address climate change adaptation, we invested an additional $1.4 billion toward the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund to further support projects such as wildfire mitigation activities, rehabilitation of stormwater systems and restoration of wetlands and shorelines.
In fact, in 2019, the federal Liberal government funded $76 million, through the $2-billion disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, for Surrey, in partnership with the Semiahmoo First Nation to upgrade 7.5 kilometres of the Nicomeki and Serpentine sea dams, the Colebrook Dike, and upgrade two pump stations and two dikes, but we must do more.
We have been working with provinces and territories to complete flood maps for higher risk areas, supported first nations and Inuit as they managed the health impacts of climate change such as access to food, impacts of extreme weather events and mental health impacts of climate change on youth.
Our government will continue to invest in our workers and our industry to help bring Canada into the economy of the future while we take action to clean our air and protect Canadians from extreme weather events like the ones we are currently experiencing in B.C. As Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary May Simon said in the Speech from the Throne yesterday, “in a time of crisis, we know how Canadians respond. We step up and we are there for each other. And the government will continue to be there for the people of British Columbia.” Canadians are stepping up.
I had the opportunity to see this first-hand last week, when I joined a team of volunteers delivering food and supplies to Hope and Yale, B.C. This was made possible by the generosity of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib in Surrey, Richberry farms' Peter Dhillon and the Guru Nanak Food Bank. I thank those who stepped up for their communities and neighbours during the challenging times.
I saw first-hand how people felt scared, isolated and anxious, whether it was from sleeping in their cars for days or from whether they could have bread or milk as the shelves in the stores were bare. When disaster first struck in B.C., search and rescue teams from Comox helped rescue motorists who had been stranded in dangerous conditions. The Canadian Armed Forces on the ground supported relief and mitigation efforts. When remote communities were cut off by landslides and road closures, the Air Task Force members helped deliver essential food and supplies. They delivered over 6,000 pounds of supplies to the Nooaitch and Nicomen first nations communities so far, including critical staples like fresh milk, eggs and potatoes.
Thousands of Canadian Armed Forces members are on standby and will be on their way to assist those most impacted by the tragedy, if needed. I thank the members of the Canadian military for their work, which includes everything from evacuations, rescuing livestock, sandbagging areas at risk of flooding and assisting with infrastructure repairs. We are so grateful for their commitment to keeping British Columbians safe on the ground during this difficult time.
Our government is working closely with provincial counterparts in British Columbia. We recently approved their request for federal assistance from the province for help with its emergency response to the extreme widespread flooding. Indigenous Services Canada also approved a funding request of $4.4 million in additional funding to the First Nations' Emergency Services Society of British Columbia to support it as it assists first nations in their response to the widespread flooding caused by the recent atmospheric river event.
Our government has also been helping residents return home who have been left stranded in the flooded areas where roads have been inaccessible. A local team from my constituency of Surrey Centre, the Surrey Thunder U11 boys hockey team, was on its way to a tournament nearly 400 kilometres away from home and was left stranded with no accessible route home through Canada due to the road damage caused by the flooding. Thanks to the coordination on both sides of the border, including of our government officials, CBSA officers, U.S. immigration and many more who were involved, we were able to get them home safely.
As British Columbians brace for the expected heavy rains coming at the end of this week, our government is watching closely and will stand with the people of British Columbia and continue to work with our provincial counterparts to ensure the safety and well-being of British Columbians.
I would like to close today by acknowledging that there are colleagues from British Columbia who are represented across party lines in the House. I hope that, as we begin the 44th Parliament, we can come together and do what we must do to support all those impacted by these devastating events and the many other challenging situations Canadians are facing across this country. To everyone in B.C. impacted by the floods, please take care and stay safe.
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