Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to a comment my colleague from Kitchener—Conestoga made that apparently there had been no discussion about climate change in three and a half years and that it appeared we had to use the word emergency in order for anyone to pay attention. I am very pleased he now recognizes that climate change is indeed a problem. I thank him very much for saying that.
My hon. colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie talked about insurance. I come from a rural riding, as my former colleague did. All the municipalities within it have declared climate change an emergency in their work. One of the reasons they have done this is because of the insurance costs. We live in Lake Ontario and all the water up here is coming down.
The Governor of the Bank of Canada just put out his report today. He said that the insured damage to property and infrastructure averaged about $1.7 billion per year between 2008 and 2017, which is eight and a half times higher than the annual average of $200 million from 1983 to 1992.
Where does the hon. member think that $1.7 billion will come from? As the insurance companies are paying out that money, I assume they are going to want to recover those costs.