Evidence of meeting #68 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was going.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
No, not to this extent. I understand that. This is unusual.
Nonetheless, usually post-wildfire takes a while but things come back and they come back in different ways. It really alters the landscape. Looking forward, it would be helpful to get some of the necessary science so we're out in front of what the future looks like.
9:25 a.m.
Liberal
Pat Finnigan Liberal Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB
I know we've had some experience in our province but not to that scale. Right after the fire, some wood can still be salvaged but it has to be done very fast because obviously it's going to deteriorate. Would that be on top of this?
I know the market is not the best right now; other disasters are creating a demand. That would be one of the first things to look at.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
I had a meeting with our forest companies, and our industry will be meeting with them again tonight in Ottawa. I'm heading home tomorrow night to have a round table meeting with them. We're in an unprecedented emergency situation.
You're absolutely right. We have about a one- to two-year window where we can salvage the wood that's out there and there is still a marketable component to it or we can use it.
I want to go back to a comment we had when we were in the Miramichi. We had comments at our committee about the clear-cutting and logging practices that were going on and how that was having a devastating impact on the fishing in those areas, and indeed the rivers in the Miramichi.
This is no different. This is absolute devastation, without a doubt. There is no root structure to hold the water. We will see more landslides, more instability of our grounds.
The other thing is that the fires were so hot and so deep, they were burning a crust. There would be a crust of about six to eight inches, and underneath about four to five feet of embers, rock, empty space that had burnt. You have that instability of the land there.
I would appreciate it if the committee would be willing to consider this. This is something that we need to do. It's something that I'll be challenging our ministerial colleagues on as well, to look at immediate action and ways that we can move things forward. I think our committee can take a leadership role on this.
9:30 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
As an example of what happened, we went from a flood situation in the early to late spring to extreme drought. I had water coming in my basement for two months this spring. I had to tear up the yard and put topsoil down. That topsoil has been there for a month and not even a dandelion has come through, it has been so dry.
That's why I say there has been absolutely no moisture for any regrowth to start. In the extreme swing from those flood situations to extreme drought, now all that ash and burnt soil has basically burned so hot it has sterilized it. I think it will be a very interesting component for us to study.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, to my colleagues from the west coast, my heart goes out to you.
I spent a couple of days in Penticton and saw mostly the smoke at that point, but it was devastating. I think one of the things we have to keep in mind here is that the MPA study is not on a timeline. Although we would like to see it finished before the Christmas break, if our colleagues bring something forward that they feel needs immediate action, the MPA study can be moved if necessary. It's not that we're on a timeline for that.
If something requires immediate attention, I think it's something we should look at.
9:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Folks, before I go to Mr. McDonald, it's not written in stone, but we were not going to meet on Thursday. Do you want me to carve out some time on Tuesday of next week, say 15 minutes? Is that enough to talk about this? Can we do that, or do you want 30 minutes?
I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll see how the witness situation is going, and if we need extended time, we'll get unanimous consent. I think what you bring up is very important and we should spend the time to do it, even if more time is required.
Mr. McDonald.
September 19th, 2017 / 9:30 a.m.
Liberal
Ken McDonald Liberal Avalon, NL
As everybody knows, of course, we were in Kelowna, but I went up a couple of days early. I have a brother who lives in 108 Mile Ranch, and one afternoon we went out and drove around. He was one of the families that had to move out for nine days, and when they came back the house was still there and fine.
When you drive around and look at it, you're right, the ash is really deep. You can see that they had dug down to try to get to the hot spots and how deep they had to go. It is going to have a big downstream effect, for the sake of a better word. If we get heavy rains behind what is happening, it is going to be devastating.
Whether it's this committee or another committee, somebody has to look at this fairly quickly to see what can be done to mitigate some of those effects that we could be looking at.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
I appreciate the comments from our colleagues. I would suggest that if there is an opportunity for us to be part of the ministerial committee, or.... You have to see it first-hand—the families that have been evacuated. In my own family, my mother was evacuated with only minutes to spare, through flames. My in-laws, friends, and family—it's unbelievable. The devastation is.... It's going to take a long time.
The support of our parliamentary colleagues, whether it's this committee or other committees.... This is something we need to take leadership on. The environment committee should be thinking of this. Other committees should be taking a look at it, because what happens in B.C.—our fire season that happened here—could happen anywhere. We need to be looking at how we can try to piece people's lives back together today, but also how we can mitigate these incredible events for communities as we move forward.
We had Fort McMurray the year before, and we had B.C. this year. It's unbelievable. Whether it's the flooding that took place in Quebec or the wildfires in B.C., this is not a good year. As leaders and parliamentarians, we should be doing whatever we can to study these impacts and try to find ways to save or protect our communities and families.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
I just thought, during this discussion, there's no doubt it's something this and other committees need to look at. This is hard to do. There's nothing like first-hand experience that you see with your own eyes. Mr. McDonald has already seen some of it and, of course, Mr. Doherty and Mr. Arnold. The rest of us.... I don't know how we'd do it, but if there was any way that a number of us could see that devastation, then when we're talking about dealing with it at committee, we could say we've seen that and know what it's like.
I'm just throwing that out. I know how valuable and short our time is, but it would be important for all of us to do if there was any way we could arrange it.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
There's nothing like seeing it first-hand, but in the absence of that I have video of my friends and family fighting the wildfires, and footage of flying over it as well—the devastation. It's not sensationalizing it at all. It is devastating. When you see it first-hand it is unbelievable.
Going back to our original comment, it's going to have a devastating impact on this committee's purview, on our fisheries. There are no two ways about it: not only our fisheries, but our displaced wildlife. You're seeing more and more incursions of wildlife in the communities.
When I was managing the airport in Prince George, I used to joke that you're just as likely to have a delay on a flight because of a moose or bear on the runway as you are for weather. We're seeing more and more wildlife come into the communities because they're being forced out by the fires. It's unbelievable. It's going to be really tough.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Thank you for that, Mr. Doherty.
To our colleagues from British Columbia, I look forward to discussing this on Tuesday. I'll put some time aside at the end of the meeting. If we have to extend, we'll do that to come up with an idea of how we're going to handle this in the near future. And it's noted that we can put the MPA study forward into 2018 if need be.
Are there any other topics to discuss? Seeing none, I will see you next week, on Tuesday, 26 September. Thanks, everyone.
The meeting is adjourned.