I'll just pick up where I left off, I suppose:
—the committee urge the federal government to work with the Government of British Columbia to establish a $1 billion watershed security fund; that the Committee report this to the House; and that the government table a written response.
This stemmed from some really compelling testimony that we had from Mr. Zeman, who is the executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation. He talked to the committee about how his organization has been working in partnership with first nations and landowners on hundreds of watershed restoration projects across the province. I think it's some really exciting work.
This uses the term “watershed security” and maybe the best place to start is by talking about what this concept of watershed security is.
What we're talking about when we say “watershed security” is really rebuilding the natural defences of our watersheds. There's so much literature out there on the importance of natural infrastructure. We know that natural systems are some of our best defences against climate change and the extreme weather that we've been seeing more and more.
Watershed security is really about rebuilding those natural defences. It's about bolstering collaborative monitoring by engaging communities and first nations in data collection and going out on the land and to the watersheds to observe what's happening, so that we are better informed and better able to respond when things change. It's about strengthening watershed governance in partnership with the provinces, first nations and local governments.
In British Columbia, there's been a long history of this work. The opportunity right now is really to bring some significant resources to bear, so that the organizations and communities that want to do this work are supported by the federal government.
This has huge potential for job creation. We're talking about the potential for thousands of well-paid jobs in communities. Some of this work is already taking place.
We know that the cost of not doing this is also very significant. In British Columbia, people are well aware of the devastating impacts of wildfires over the past number of years, the flooding and the atmospheric river that hit the Lower Mainland and caused extensive damage. We do have the potential to mitigate these effects if we act swiftly and if we put in place the structures that are required to bolster natural infrastructure and make sure that our watersheds are resilient.
In British Columbia, top of mind for many folks is the health of wild salmon stocks. This work around resilience and building watershed security also has the benefit of protecting and enhancing our wild salmon, which are so important to our economy and to first nations.
That really gets to the heart of what this motion is about.
The Government of B.C. has already invested over $100 million in watershed security. The potential here is to build that into a $1-billion fund. It's not with the federal government contributing the balance, but with a sizable matching contribution from the federal government, increased contributions from the provincial government and the leveraging of private investment as well. Together, these three parties could put together the funds to really sustain this work into the future.
I know this is an initiative that the B.C. government is very excited about. First nations are very excited about it. When we talk about climate change and securing watersheds, it's relatively rare that we get such broad support from across all the different sectors—from different governments and across the political spectrum. When we see that kind of alignment, I think it really behooves us to get behind those efforts and support them with significant resources.
That's why I'm excited about this. It's why I brought forward the motion after Mr. Zeman's testimony before the committee.
I know we're going to have other witnesses who appear before this committee on this study. We did hear from Watersheds B.C. at our last meeting.
I know, unfortunately, the witness's testimony was cut short. I wasn't able to ask the questions that I wanted to ask of the witness, but hopefully the presentation that she made had an impact on the committee. Hopefully we'll hear from more folks from my home province who are passionate about this work.
My hope today is that we can debate this motion and hopefully pass it so that the government can know that the committee supports moving forward with this vision. I think it's a really positive vision. I think it could have a tremendous impact on the province of British Columbia and the watersheds that sustain our communities.
Mr. Chair, I'll leave it at that for now. Perhaps I can offer some more thoughts later in the debate.