Madam Speaker, the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon identified priorities that should not be partisan. When it comes to protecting wild salmon, it should be everybody's issue.
Returns on the coast this year were despite the Big Bar slide. We had half the lowest return in recorded history in the Fraser. We had record low returns in the Skeena. In Clayoquot River we had 300 returning chinook salmon in all of our tributaries. These are tributaries and streams that normally produce thousands of fish. We are seeing fish die off and we are seeing a lack of resources.
We need an emergency package from the government. We need a restoration package of funding equivalent to what the government would spend on a forest fire in Alberta or a flood in eastern Canada. This is a national emergency. We need staffing resources in the department. We need a record amount of money in the salmon enhancement program. We need EI for fishers because they are losing their homes. The commercial fleet did not even set sail until the end of August.
Would my colleague join me in calling on the government to come up with a rescue package, an emergency package, for coastal British Columbians in light of this crisis that is happening right now?