Madam Chair, if this debate tonight were not so unbelievable for my constituency of Prince George—Peace River, it would be truly sad. It is unbelievable that we have a minister of the Crown, the Minister of Natural Resources, admitting that he has been in that position for year and asking us to show him the plan. That is the type of leadership that unfortunately we have come to see all too often from the Liberal government.
When this minister cannot solve a problem with his own premier in Newfoundland and live up to the commitment the Prime Minister made over the last year to Newfoundland for resource sharing revenues, is it any wonder that he does not have a clue about the scope and nature of the problem in British Columbia? After all, for this government, what happens on the other side of the Rocky Mountains might as well be in China for all it cares.
After all this time, there is no plan. The member who just spoke talked about the role of the federal government. There was a federal government role during the ice storm and it addressed that disaster. There was a federal government role for the floods in the Red River. There was a federal government role when the SARS epidemic hit Toronto. There is a federal government role in addressing this disaster.
In my speech that I will give in a few minutes I will outline a few of the things that government members could consider doing if they cared a whit about British Columbia. If I can think of these things, surely to goodness so can the Liberal government.