Thank you, Mrs. Gill. I also have a great deal to say.
I'll give you an example. I'm in La Romaine this morning to take part in your committee meeting by video conference. I've taken the helicopter three times this week, and it was late all three times. There are always small changes, but that's fine.
I'll give you another example. The residents of the town of Chevery have access to gasoline delivered to Harrington Harbour by a Harnois company boat. I didn't choose Harnois, but this company delivers our fuel. The Harnois boat doesn't go to Chevery, so the locals must send the fuel from Harrington Harbour to Chevery. The Chevery residents must pay an additional tax of 35 cents per litre to cover the cost of transporting the fuel to Chevery.
When it comes to food, I'm thinking of Saint‑Augustin and Pakua Shipi, two communities located one kilometre apart. Studies were carried out in both 2002 and 2004 on the possibility of creating a bridge between the two towns to increase access, since there are many ties between the two places. A number of Saint‑Augustin residents work for the Pakua Shipi community.
We also had to carry out a study on forest fires. You referred to this problem, Mrs. Gill. Saint‑Augustin residents have about two hours ahead of them, since the town is surrounded by forests. If the tide is out, evacuating people becomes a problem. The Saint‑Augustin community may even be basically forced to watch the town go up in flames from the water's edge. They have no way to get to the other shore, to Pakua Shipi, which has a wharf and an airport.
When it comes to transportation out of the town, the hovercraft doesn't operate 24 hours a day. This means that, if an emergency takes place in Saint‑Augustin and a patient needs medical attention, the patient can't be transferred immediately to the airport. Fortunately, we have a good team of responders in Saint‑Augustin. We're able to stabilize the person until we can get them out of town.
In addition, people from the Pakua Shipi community come to our area to go to the bank, the grocery store, and so on.
Saint‑Augustin has a fire truck, but Pakua Shipi doesn't. So if a fire breaks out in that community, there isn't any way to send in a fire truck.
There are a number of challenges.
For example, the crane on the Bella Desgagnés vessel broke down at the start of the season, and the vessel had to return to Sept‑Îles. The problem was that it returned to Sept‑Îles with all the goods, such as tomatoes, potatoes, oranges and milk. When delivered, these products aren't always as fresh as when we buy them at the grocery store in Quebec City or Montreal. However, we have no choice but to take what we have.