Stephen Harper on Government Assistance

In the House of Commons on September 29th, 2003. See this statement in context.

Government AssistanceOral Question Period

September 29th, 2003 / 2:15 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Canadian Alliance

Stephen Harper Canadian AllianceLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, I thank the government for that update.

I want to ask a question more directly about disaster relief assistance because the government does have a patchy record on this.

It was slow to deal with SARS and still slow to deal with fires in British Columbia and the outbreak of BSE. In the case of Newfoundland, it was two years before disaster relief assistance came for 9/11.

My question is, has the government assessed financial and monetary damage? Is it prepared to offer disaster relief assistance?

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