Discussion · Private Members' Business
Ellis Ross Conservative
“I support this bill, but Canadians need help right now. Floods and fires are happening today, and this bill only promises a study that takes two years. The government cut weather radio to save money, which hurts farmers and mariners who do not have internet, yet it sends foreign aid to rich countries like China. We should spend that money helping Canadians and stop delaying real action.”
“Madam Speaker, we are here talking about Bill C-241, the national strategy on flood and drought forecasting act. We are going to hear speeches about how great this is and how needed it is. We agree on this side. This is definitely needed, given the times that we are living through. To be fair to Canadians, this is a strategy that promises to do something in the future; it is not something definitive today that we would be providing Canadians in terms of forecasting. Before I begin the bulk of my speech, I want to talk about the forecasting that is currently done in Canada, through Environment Canada, for example. They do a pretty good job. They do an excellent job, especially when we are talking about the Canadian Coast Guard and the VHF marine system forecasting. There are many mariners on the west coast of British Columbia and across Canada who depend on its service. It really does mean life or death in some of the most treacherous areas of our waters across Canada, so we know full well what it means to be forecasting for future events. Unfortunately though, Environment Canada discontinued its weather radio service on March 16 due to increasing costs and the need for more viable alternatives such as smart phones and weather apps. The weather radio network reached 90% of the Canadian population, but it will be replaced by other services like Alert Ready and the WeatherCAN mobile app. It will continue to provide timely weather information, but this does not talk about those people who do not have that technology, do not have Internet service or do not understand this information age we are living in. When I think about that, I see that we would be cutting back on an essential service that people depend on. In today’s day and age, we are talking about mariners, but we are also talking about farmers who have to predict the weather for their crops. It would be such a cost-saving measure, when we are already hearing speeches about the damage inflicted on Canadians from weather events, the cost to citizens of damage to houses and the cost of damage to infrastructure. As such, we are going to do a budget cut to get rid of weather radio service, but this budget cut is going to affect Canadians. On the other hand, where is Canada sending its money in light of these budget cuts? A large portion goes to foreign aid. There is something wrong with that. Citizens are depending on services like weather radio service, forecasting models that are currently in place for even just the simple matter of going to get groceries, but the government decided to cut those services and send the money overseas to foreign governments. One thing in particular strikes me as way beyond unusual and uncalled for: foreign aid to China. I never imagined China would need foreign aid. This is a country that is turning into an energy superpower in its own right, not with political promises, but they are doing it. They are building some of the largest dams in the world to get off the reliance on crude oil and diesel. They actually started buying up crude oil supplies, given this diesel crisis that the globe is facing, and they have the money to do it. They have the capacity to store this crude oil. At the same time, they started restricting diesel exports. They provide a lot of diesel for the rest of the world, but they have the money and the reserves to basically do that for their own country. In the meantime, Canada is sending them foreign aid. It should almost be the reverse, given our deficit, given our debt and given the fact that two million Canadians are visiting food banks and 34% of them are children. One in four of the people visiting a food bank is a working person who cannot afford groceries. Why are we cutting essential services like weather forecasting when we are sending money to China to help out poor China? It is not poor. I know we are talking about weather forecasting. I know a lot about it in terms of what is happening in B.C., for example, with the forest fires that are devastating our communities, devastating our infrastructure and burning down houses, with entire communities being evacuated. I was there during the floods in Abbotsford. What is our solution? Let us forecast the next one. Let us propose a study that will take us two years. Let us start planning a study right now so we can plan something in the future, despite the impacts that are happening right now. To the citizens watching this right now on CPAC, all those millions of people, I am sorry, but this is not an announcement that something is going to happen today or tomorrow. It is going to take two years for the government to develop a strategy and then present it and debate it. Then maybe the government will come up with something to help with forest fires. The conversation outside this House at least, in earnest, is that we should be doing more to adapt. It is a great conversation, but that is all it is. It is just coffee talk. We are not talking about managing our forests in B.C. to lessen the risk of forest fires. The federal government has a role to play in that. I know government members will get up to say that it is in provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government does have jurisdiction over Crown lands in the provinces across Canada. It has jurisdiction over certain properties. Also, through the Indian Act, it has jurisdiction on reserve lands. This is okay. It is all right. I sat on the committee as well. However, the focus, I think, should be to develop a more robust plan for forecasting for Canadians, especially farmers and mariners, but also to start talking about adaptation and start helping the people who are being afflicted by these disasters. For the most part, a lot of what we are talking about here is already being done at a very foundational level, whether we are talking about insurance companies, Environment Canada or the Coast Guard. Collaboration among provinces, governments, municipalities and first nations should not have to be legislated. People should just pick up a phone. We know what the problem is. We have local knowledge. We have municipal knowledge. We have provincial knowledge. Everybody is facing the same issue. We do not have to spend two years studying this, only to then try to draft up a strategy. Everybody wants a solution, but it has to be a wholesome solution. We cannot just pick something that is not going to help Canadians with what they are facing today and what they are going to face tomorrow. As to budgeting, we have to take a serious look at that. We have to start limiting foreign aid and keeping a lot of that money so we can help Canadians in every situation, whether we are talking about affordability, flooding or forest fires.”
Madam Speaker, we are here talking about Bill C-241, the national strategy on flood and drought forecasting act. We are going to hear speeches about how great this is and how needed it is. We agree on this side. This is definitely needed, given the times that we are living through. To be fair to Canadians, this is a strategy that promises to do something in the future; it is not something definitive today that we would be providing Canadians in terms of forecasting. Before I begin the bulk of my speech, I want to talk about the forecasting that is currently done in Canada, through Environment Canada, for example. They do a pretty good job. They do an excellent job, especially when we are talking about the Canadian Coast Guard and the VHF marine system forecasting. There are many mariners on the west coast of British Columbia and across Canada who depend on its service. It really does mean life or death in some of the most treacherous areas of our waters across Canada, so we know full well what it means to be forecasting for future events. Unfortunately though, Environment Canada discontinued its weather radio service on March 16 due to increasing costs and the need for more viable alternatives such as smart phones and weather apps. The weather radio network reached 90% of the Canadian population, but it will be replaced by other services like Alert Ready and the WeatherCAN mobile app. It will continue to provide timely weather information, but this does not talk about those people who do not have that technology, do not have Internet service or do not understand this information age we are living in. When I think about that, I see that we would be cutting back on an essential service that people depend on. In today’s day and age, we are talking about mariners, but we are also talking about farmers who have to predict the weather for their crops. It would be such a cost-saving measure, when we are already hearing speeches about the damage inflicted on Canadians from weather events, the cost to citizens of damage to houses and the cost of damage to infrastructure. As such, we are going to do a budget cut to get rid of weather radio service, but this budget cut is going to affect Canadians. On the other hand, where is Canada sending its money in light of these budget cuts? A large portion goes to foreign aid. There is something wrong with that. Citizens are depending on services like weather radio service, forecasting models that are currently in place for even just the simple matter of going to get groceries, but the government decided to cut those services and send the money overseas to foreign governments. One thing in particular strikes me as way beyond unusual and uncalled for: foreign aid to China. I never imagined China would need foreign aid. This is a country that is turning into an energy superpower in its own right, not with political promises, but they are doing it. They are building some of the largest dams in the world to get off the reliance on crude oil and diesel. They actually started buying up crude oil supplies, given this diesel crisis that the globe is facing, and they have the money to do it. They have the capacity to store this crude oil. At the same time, they started restricting diesel exports. They provide a lot of diesel for the rest of the world, but they have the money and the reserves to basically do that for their own country. In the meantime, Canada is sending them foreign aid. It should almost be the reverse, given our deficit, given our debt and given the fact that two million Canadians are visiting food banks and 34% of them are children. One in four of the people visiting a food bank is a working person who cannot afford groceries. Why are we cutting essential services like weather forecasting when we are sending money to China to help out poor China? It is not poor. I know we are talking about weather forecasting. I know a lot about it in terms of what is happening in B.C., for example, with the forest fires that are devastating our communities, devastating our infrastructure and burning down houses, with entire communities being evacuated. I was there during the floods in Abbotsford. What is our solution? Let us forecast the next one. Let us propose a study that will take us two years. Let us start planning a study right now so we can plan something in the future, despite the impacts that are happening right now. To the citizens watching this right now on CPAC, all those millions of people, I am sorry, but this is not an announcement that something is going to happen today or tomorrow. It is going to take two years for the government to develop a strategy and then present it and debate it. Then maybe the government will come up with something to help with forest fires. The conversation outside this House at least, in earnest, is that we should be doing more to adapt. It is a great conversation, but that is all it is. It is just coffee talk. We are not talking about managing our forests in B.C. to lessen the risk of forest fires. The federal government has a role to play in that. I know government members will get up to say that it is in provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government does have jurisdiction over Crown lands in the provinces across Canada. It has jurisdiction over certain properties. Also, through the Indian Act, it has jurisdiction on reserve lands. This is okay. It is all right. I sat on the committee as well. However, the focus, I think, should be to develop a more robust plan for forecasting for Canadians, especially farmers and mariners, but also to start talking about adaptation and start helping the people who are being afflicted by these disasters. For the most part, a lot of what we are talking about here is already being done at a very foundational level, whether we are talking about insurance companies, Environment Canada or the Coast Guard. Collaboration among provinces, governments, municipalities and first nations should not have to be legislated. People should just pick up a phone. We know what the problem is. We have local knowledge. We have municipal knowledge. We have provincial knowledge. Everybody is facing the same issue. We do not have to spend two years studying this, only to then try to draft up a strategy. Everybody wants a solution, but it has to be a wholesome solution. We cannot just pick something that is not going to help Canadians with what they are facing today and what they are going to face tomorrow. As to budgeting, we have to take a serious look at that. We have to start limiting foreign aid and keeping a lot of that money so we can help Canadians in every situation, whether we are talking about affordability, flooding or forest fires.