Mr. Speaker, it is always a great pleasure to rise in the House, but it is an even greater pleasure today because I am sharing my time with the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, no doubt an excellent member and a great colleague as well.
I want to clarify something. The concurrence debate was brought by one of my fellow members. We hear the member for Winnipeg North consistently say that this is somehow inappropriate. He says that it should have been brought up in question period, which evidently it was three times; that it should have been an opposition day motion; or that it should have been brought up in committee.
It was studied in committee. It is completely legitimate within the process, and it is a debate that needs to happen. While I may not agree with my colleague 100%, it is a completely legitimate debate that is important not only to folks in his riding but also to people up and down the St. Lawrence Seaway. Shoreline erosion, ironically, as the member for Winnipeg North raised, is an issue that is from coast to coast, with various rivers, lakes and otherwise.
In 2019, which happens to be the year I was elected, I spent a particularly large amount of time talking to residents in my surrounding neighbourhoods. There was flooding taking place. The highest recorded level that Lake Ontario had ever been at was in 2019. This was right on the heels of the record-setting flooding in 2017.
I was with a resident who was literally in ankle-deep water, who told me that their yard, where they played with their grandchildren, extended 50 yards farther out, so they lost 50 yards of their property. I spoke to another lady who was well into her 80s, who told me that she had not had a good night's sleep in weeks because she did not know whether this would be the night that her basement or her house flooded, as she could hear the lapping of Lake Ontario drawing closer and closer. She lived in terror, thinking that her house would soon be flooded.
Therefore, shoreline erosion is a real and significant issue that merits debate, and I thank my colleague for bringing forward the concurrence debate.
I will talk a bit about the importance of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Of my wife's two grandfathers, one started on the lakers in Thunder Bay, and the other one started in Gaspé. They travelled up and down the waters, eventually settling down in Niagara. That gave them the opportunity to work at a job, see the world and eventually start a family. I am, like the member for Winnipeg North, or my children are at least, here because of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the tremendous importance it has in our economy.
Let us look at what the study says. It confirmed what we knew already: Shoreline erosion in Lake Ontario, the Great Lakes and many places elsewhere in the country is a significant issue. Let us look at the facts. It was a Liberal government in 1998 that cut the shoreline protection program, so it is a consistent theme that Liberal failures have created problems. It was just like when the Liberals cut health care in the 1990s under Jean Chrétien and then Paul Martin, yet somehow they provide the misinformation, and I would rather use the other word, to be candid, that they are not making cuts.
However, it is the reality that Stephen Harper dramatically increased funding for infrastructure following the 2008 economic crisis. It is also a reality, a fact, that Stephen Harper increased health care funding. According to all of the misinformation we hear repeatedly from the other side, we would think the opposite were true.
When we look at the problem of shoreline erosion, I think there is agreement on all sides that we need a multilateral partnership. It is particularly complicated because, as one of the other members said today, it also involves the United States of America. We need to have our American partners, the federal government, the provinces and municipalities on board. We also need private stakeholders, such as residents, communicating what they want to get done, as well shipping.
I would agree with my colleague. It is undeniable that shipping causes shoreline erosion, or a part of it. Shipping, and let us call a spade a spade, is important to our economy as well. We all need to look at everything and come up with an approach to move forward to protect the residents, protect our economy and to grow a better and bigger Canada as we go forward.
The shoreline erosion problem has been discussed for years and years, yet there has been no action by the Liberal government. One of the things I disagree with my colleague from the Bloc Québécois on is that he seems to believe the Liberal federal government can solve this problem. I would like to take the member down memory lane and look at some of the problems it tried to fix over the the last nine years.
The government told us that housing was too expensive and that we needed more affordable housing. What has happened? The price of housing has doubled and even tripled in some parts of the country. It told us that there was too much addiction and drug use and that it would tackle that. What do we see in our streets today? Crime and chaos. It told us it would balance the budget, that it would be “a teeny-tiny little deficit”, as former prime minister Stephen Harper said, and now we have a massive deficit and debt.
Do members, and not just my friend and colleague from the transport committee, really believe that after nine years the government can fix anything? Former U.S president Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.” Far be it for me to change a quote of the great Ronald Reagan, but we do need to Canadianize it to “The 10 scariest words in the English language are: I'm from the Liberal government, and I'm here to help.”
I can imagine a world where the government were to authorize itself billions of dollars to fix the shoreline erosion problem. What would happen? Just like every other problem it tried to fix it would get worse. There would also be Liberal insiders, consultants and a lot of paperwork. A lot of Liberal insiders would get very wealthy, just like with SDTC and a myriad of other programs, the consulting scandals, all of these scandals. However, nothing would actually get done, because this is a government of mismanagement, overspending and a complete and utter lack of results.
I have a little secret. The difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives is that Liberals judge the success of a program by how many billions of dollars they can spend and how long it can last, whereas Conservatives judge the success of a project or a program by whether there is success. When Conservatives cut the carbon tax, we will also fix many different problems. We will have a carbon tax election and elect a common-sense Conservative government that will restore powerful paycheques, make Canada the freest country on earth and ensure that the promise of Canada is restored.