Mr. Speaker, I would respond that the “web of life” he refers to is part of a changing environment. Adaptation is absolutely critical. We are finding that out more and more.
The other lesson I draw from this terrible event is the fact that we, as a senior level of government, actually have the power and the resources to address these issues by investing in advance and upfront. For example, in my community of Abbotsford, there have been no major diking investments since early in the Harper years when I think $6 million was given to the local community to upgrade dikes. This is not a million-dollar problem. It is a billion-dollar problem because it affects the Fraser River from Chilliwack all the way down to Richmond. If those dikes were to breach, it would be a calamity of a scale we cannot even begin to imagine.
Invest now. I implore you, as members on the government side, to impress upon the Minister of Finance to incorporate into the next budget a significant component to address improving and upgrading our existing infrastructure, and expanding it so that we will never have this kind of a calamity again.