Mr. Speaker, this is an important moment for me today as I rise in this House to speak about a vital issue that affects coastal residents of the Gaspé, the Lower St. Lawrence and Montérégie.
I will give a bit of background. Last December, almost one year ago, high tides pounded the Gaspé and the Lower St. Lawrence, causing all kinds of damage to the shoreline, land and homes. Shortly after that, in the spring, Montérégie was also hit by flooding caused mainly by overflowing rivers. This reminder is important because we have asked the government many times to help the victims in the Gaspé and Montérégie.
The federal government's current response program provides assistance to the provincial government to help disaster victims. The current program is a joint program that we are very familiar with. Over and above the more than $8 million Quebec will initially have to pay, the federal government will contribute dollar for dollar to provide the province with additional assistance to offset the cost of the damage.
However, it is not this program that we are talking about today, but a new program. All last spring, the government was being pressured to bring back the former shoreline erosion program, which fell under the responsibility of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. There was a program that allowed shoreline communities, whether they were along the St. Lawrence River or other large rivers in our beautiful land, to obtain help in the case of natural disasters or situations requiring them to adapt to the reality of the changing shoreline.
Last spring, we asked the government a number of times to bring back such a program. A new program is now needed with new adaptation measures, outside the existing program, that will allow the federal government to help provinces that experience weather-related damage.
On June 6, when he passed through Montérégie, the Prime Minister announced that there would be new mitigation measures to reduce the impact of weather-related shoreline damage.
My questions for the government are very clear. What exactly are these measures? Who exactly will these measures help? What criteria will victims or communities have to meet in order to receive funding from the government to adapt their shorelines? How much will the government invest in this new program or these new measures and, more specifically, when will these new measures come into effect?
Last week, the Government of Quebec hastened to double its efforts to help flood victims receive help more quickly. Now, I believe that it is time that the federal government lived up to flood victims' expectations by confirming and implementing such measures.