I had an opportunity to hear the exchange between you, Mr. Byrne, and the deputy minister, and I was shocked. The information she was relying on was just not accurate. I've had phone calls galore, and I've had e-mails and pictures of communities jam-packed with ice sent to me. There are areas where they haven't been able to get on the water for one single day. The last cheques coming into their households would have been several weeks ago. It was a pressing matter on April 22.
I saw those remarks. I saw the transcript of Minister Finley's remarks in the House, which certainly gave a lot of hope to people that this would be addressed, and I really was quite appalled to hear the exchange with the deputy minister. She's describing a neck of the woods that's different from what I'm living in.
There's a very severe problem. People are without income. There's serious hardship on a lot of families, and they're getting really desperate.