Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled “Prevention Today—Savings Tomorrow” in relation to its study of a natural disaster reduction plan.
During the past three years the work of the finance committee has focused on improving the standard of living for Canadians by way of sound public policy that manages our resources efficiently and enhances productivity. Today we face a growing exposure to losses from natural disasters, a concern we have conveyed in our prebudget consultation reports. In fact over the last two decades, disaster recovery payments of this country have been doubling every five to ten years.
This report highlights the findings from our consultations with expert witnesses and sets out the committee's recommendations for addressing this very important challenge.