Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday I had a very special experience in my riding. I have always championed our amazing Cowichan River and its importance to our community, but the water levels in the river are at dangerously low levels, having reached just 30% of where they should have been in the month of March. Joe Saysell took me down the river on his drift boat, and along the way, we stopped at several locations to rescue coho and chinook salmon fry that were stranded in pools in the rapidly receding main river.
The single biggest thing we can do for fish in the Cowichan River is raise the weir so that we maintain adequate flows for their survivability. Protecting critical habitat is crucial for the long-term health of salmon species.
The federal government must step up and make this a priority for our coast, especially in the face of future climate change projections for our region.