Madam Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to be here today. I would like to thank my parliamentary colleagues because tonight we are talking about the impact that hurricane Fiona has had on Atlantic Canada, and I certainly recognize eastern Quebec as well.
I want to start by recognizing that I will be sharing my time this evening with my hon. colleague for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.
It was difficult to try to prepare exactly how best to tackle this debate tonight, given the gravity of what we are still seeing on the ground in Atlantic Canada. Yes, as an Atlantic Canadian member of Parliament, I am here, but many of my colleagues are not. They are actually at home working with their constituents directly in their ridings, to be able to address the real and severe consequences of hurricane Fiona, which found its way to our shores Friday night and carried on throughout the weekend.
I suspect that many of us, those in the House and, indeed, Canadians watching at home, have seen the gut-wrenching images from across the region, whether it was in Port aux Basques, where individuals' houses were finding their way into the ocean and where a woman has unfortunately passed away, or in Prince Edward Island, where massive trees, hundreds of years old, have been ripped out, almost as if they were play toys. That is the velocity and ferocity this hurricane has presented itself with. There remains across the region a number of residents who are without power. They, indeed, would have no hope of even watching this debate here tonight because they are worried about trying to keep their houses warm. They are worried about trying to make sure they have the supplies needed to move forward.
Before I go too much further, let me thank the first responders, volunteers and professionals who are on the ground doing all that they can to help support those who are in need clean up from this significant storm. I had the opportunity to be in my riding yesterday.
I talked to workers from Quebec and Hydro-Québec. Public services from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and Maine all coordinated their efforts.
It was amazing to see the way in which we as Canadians come together, and I really want to thank those who are working away from their own families to make sure that our families in Atlantic Canada are protected.
I hope to use my time tonight to cover three distinct areas. One, I will talk about the impact on my riding of Kings—Hants. I do not want to sound disingenuous, because the impact was significant and severe, but it really does pale in comparison to northern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and western Newfoundland. I will talk about those three distinct areas as well as Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine in Quebec, but first I will speak a little about Kings—Hants.
I was fortunate enough to get home last week from my work in Ottawa just before the storm arrived. We sustained winds of around 130 kilometres an hour at its peak in Kings—Hants. The house was shaking, and we have a relatively new home in a new area in our community. Frankly, we did not get much sleep, and I know many people across Atlantic Canada did not either. We saw significantly damaged trees, with some fallen on electricity lines, which put a lot of people out of power. Some of that is returning in my riding. In fact, by and large it has returned, but there are some who still do not have power. They are hoping to be connected either tomorrow night or Wednesday.
I often speak about the agriculture sector in Kings—Hants. When we think about the Annapolis Valley, as was mentioned today during question period, we think about the significant fruit-growing industry and apple orchards that we have. This is also the harvest season for those fruits.
I had the opportunity to be with Andrew Bishop of Noggins Corner Farm, and yesterday I visited Alex Sarsfield and Dave Power, farmers in my riding, to see the damage, which is significantly better than it was after hurricane Dorian. In some instances, almost across the entire industry, 90% of the apples had fallen from the trees, which made them no longer marketable in the same way they would have been had they been picked off the trees. Thankfully, in many cases, that is not the case in the Annapolis Valley, but there is some significant damage on certain farms.
On the telecommunications piece, in the first 36 to 48 hours, it was very difficult to make a phone call or send a text message. I remember waking up Saturday morning to survey some of the damage. I wanted to get around in my riding to engage with my community to see how best we could help at the Government of Canada level and with different local authorities. I was unable to even participate in the conference call that the Minister of Emergency Preparedness had arranged, because of the fact that the cellular connection was not in place.
I understand this is a nuanced subject and it is challenging for telecommunications, but I do think it has to be one of the lessons learned from hurricane Fiona regarding our telecoms. When power goes out and the Internet is not available, many people do not have a landline anymore. It is their cellphone that is their connection to their community and to emergency services. What could we do to make sure those cell towers stay up as long as possible, even though we know service will not be perfect because of the nature of these types of storms?
Northern Nova Scotia is home to my colleague, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the MP for Central Nova. We have seen some of the pictures of the impacts on farming and forestry infrastructure in that particular part of Nova Scotia. Sydney was hit particularly hard. I am happy to report to the House that the member for Sydney—Victoria has let us know in our Nova Scotia caucus that power has been returned in his community. I know that Prince Edward Island, for example, is still struggling to get the lights on. I do not have a current update, but I know we are continuing to work in that domain.
I do not have words for Port aux Basques. The number of houses lost is certainly over 25. I think about the member of Parliament for Long Range Mountains, the Minister of Rural Economic Development, who is on the ground. If she is watching today, I want to make sure that she knows we are thinking of her. To lose 25 houses and to lose a member of the community in that fashion, I could not say anything today that would do justice to what that means.
I want to talk about what we are doing in terms of responding. It is under three major elements. The Canadian Armed Forces are already on the ground in Atlantic Canada. As the provinces put forward requests, we were there to provide support. I give credit to the Minister of National Defence for mobilizing those folks to be able to help with the cleanup. The member for Cumberland—Colchester talked about how important that is. I agree. That is exactly is why, and impressively, within 48 hours we have Canadian Armed Forces on the ground helping. I give a tip of the cap to them tonight.
For the next 30 days, the Government of Canada is going to match private contributions to the Canadian Red Cross. That is an important program. I suspect the government may be open to extending that window, depending on the circumstances and the extent of the damage, once that is assessed in the days ahead. We really welcome that measure and the fact that it was rolled out very quickly.
Finally, there is the disaster financial assistance arrangements program. For example, there was a $5-billion package that the Government of Canada helped roll out with the Government of British Columbia when we saw those atmospheric rains and the major impact on the interior of British Columbia. That is the model that the Atlantic provinces and the Government of Quebec, if they choose to do so, could enact so that the Government of Canada would be there to help with the repairs and to help with the rebuilding of communities.
I just want people at home to know, if they are able to watch this debate tonight, that the Government of Canada is going to be there to help support the rebuild of their communities. We are going to roll out these programs as soon as possible. We know that there will be logistical challenges. We think about rural communities and capacity, such as having the construction companies and the labour to make this happen. It will not happen overnight. However, we will be there and we will be steadfast in working with members of Parliament in this House, with provincial governments and with local authorities to make that happen.
Perhaps a member could ask me about the agricultural impact. As the chair of the agriculture committee, I would be happy to answer.
My key conclusion is that the Government of Canada will be there. I know all members of Parliament will support those initiatives for us to be there with communities on the ground in Atlantic Canada. Now is an important time, when we look to rebuilding certain communities that have been the hardest impacted with a lens on making sure the infrastructure is climate resilient. I know those words can be really cliché, but it is about making sure that what we build back, whether it be houses, arenas or schools, is able to withstand future storms. I will leave it at that.