Madam Speaker, Fire Chief Brolund of West Kelowna said another thing that stuck with me. He said Kelowna spent more than $20 million battling the summer's wildfires and that insurance losses would triple that amount. Chief Brolund asked, “What could we have accomplished if we used that same amount of money proactively?” He said money spent fighting fires was spent on the wrong end of the problem, and he said that at an event in support of carbon pricing, a proven policy designed to reduce emissions that are driving climate change, as well as more intense wildfires and flooding all across our nation and all across the world.
In the House of Commons on September 29th, 2023. See this statement in context.