Thank you very much, Chair.
I may get a little off script as well, similar to Minister Fox. The past three Atlantic ministers have explained where they have been and we are in the same place. My notes are comparable to their notes, but I can make it pretty real.
We lost something we can't get back. We lost a life in the recent event that we had on the southwest coast of our province. We had another storm some years ago—Igor—and we lost another life. For material things, no doubt we can find a way to get them back. There are programs, there's insurance and there's help from the communities.
As you would know, Mr. Chair, I live right on the Atlantic Ocean. I'm on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. In the last 58 years, I can tell you I've seen the changes that are happening on the ocean. I've seen more severe storms and warmer temperatures. I can remember seasons when the ice floes would go well south of the island of Newfoundland and beyond that out to our rigs and on to the Grand Banks. Now, we don't see ice anymore. We don't see harbours and tickles freezing over anymore. These are all good indications of warmer water temperatures.
I've seen fishing stages that were built over a hundred years ago wash out into the ocean because of the extreme high tides, not only from this event, but from previous events.
This time we were devastated on the southeast coast. Right now, we've had to remove a hundred families from their own residences and take them out. They are in a dangerous.... Some homes, as everybody would have seen, were washed out into the ocean. The recovery and the cleanup from that is ongoing as we speak. We've had some great help. The armed forces were in for a while on the southwest coast. We've had companies come in cleaning. As Minister Fox would say about the ghost gear...because we lost fishing gear.
The infrastructure along our shorelines was built many decades ago. Some of the new infrastructure withstood it really well. What was built over the years did not withstand the forces of nature this time around.
We need to look at a new approach. We can't really build wharves any higher or any farther. We can't build them inland, obviously. We live on the ocean. We make our living from the ocean. Most Newfoundland coastal communities are dependent on the ocean and many lives have been given up to the ocean. But rarely has a life that's on the land been swept into the ocean from the storm. This time, that made it real. People were there. People were watching.
I could probably go on for an hour on this, Mr. Chair, as you know. It's very personal for you. This is your own province as well.
Climate change is real. We need to work with our municipal councils, our local service districts and with small craft harbours. We need to find a way to build better infrastructure if we have to exist near the ocean, which we have to do for many decades to come. We need to find a way that is more resilient and more ready.
For the municipalities, we have to look at a way of moving some houses back from the ocean. This was quite evident on the southwest coast. Everybody saw the pictures. I saw vehicles being washed away on videos. That's amazing when you're tens of feet away from the ocean and the sea has never reached there before.
I look forward to these proceedings. I am delighted to be part of this today. I have multiple notes in front of me, so I look forward to the session going forward.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak.