Madam Speaker, sympathy is not enough. It is like a natural disaster. It is like the forest fires in northern Alberta or the floods in eastern Canada, when the federal government came to the plate with an emergency package. It needs to do that in British Columbia. It will be under its watch that Pacific salmon will go the way of the Atlantic cod. It is gut-check time. Does the government have the intestinal fortitude, the courage to do the right thing and deliver an aid package?
We are counting on this parliamentary secretary, who is from British Columbia, to be the spokesperson, to stand up to his cabinet and ask them to do the right thing. People are losing their homes. This is our food security. Everything is interconnected on the west coast. Our whole ecosystem relies on our wild salmon. People are losing their homes, and while we appreciate the efforts by the government after the Big Bar slide, even before that, salmon had their lowest return in the Fraser.
The government needs to take action, and we are counting on this member right now.