Mr. Speaker, I am not so sure that it was necessary to interrupt me when I had just three minutes and 40 seconds left, but I will let it go.
I was thanking the mayors who stepped up and showed leadership. I thank Mr. Barthe, who invited me to Saint‑Ignace‑de‑Loyola to show me that he had been forced to urgently repair a road without any financial support from the federal government or the provincial government. Without pre-approval, once the work is done, there is no chance of getting any money. It is just not possible. In his case, the road would have fallen into the water if the repairs had not been done. That is the situation: a small municipality with few resources is abandoned but still needs to invest its own money.
I thank André Villeneuve, mayor of Lanoraie. As soon as the committee was created, he took charge of operations, offered meeting rooms and rallied people to the cause. I also thank Alain Goyette, who is currently showing incredible leadership in putting all of this together. Thanks to him, things are finally moving.
Allow me to explain why this is important and why there is erosion. Structures have been built upstream to control the flow of water. Some of these structures are built near populated areas in my riding. They are called control weirs, and they are basically stone walls that were built to keep the water in the river, raise the water level and keep it high and constant by controlling the upstream dam and combining it with the Ottawa River. The water is always at the same level, and erosion occurs always at the same level.
No one can tell me that the St. Lawrence Seaway is not the cause of these major erosion problems. The two are directly related. These are structures. Government was asked to help with the work, but it said no because it cannot just throw money away like that. However, the government has the money to come in and work on the control weirs. Workers came this summer, and our mayors did not even know what was happening. These workers were working alongside the municipalities and, when asked, they said that Fisheries and Oceans Canada had sent them. The mayors then wrote to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to ask why these people were doing work in their municipalities.
The St. Lawrence Seaway is very important. The federal government is going to do some work there, but the mayors have to deal with the secondary repercussions and the hundred-year-old trees falling into the water. They can cry about it all they want, but no one cares. The workers and the government do not care. That is the situation right now.
Another minister, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, is currently looking at creating two reserves in the Lake Saint-Pierre archipelago, where ship speeds would be reduced, which is not a bad idea. Maybe those two departments could talk to each other? Maybe they could also talk to the third department, Transport Canada, about making ship speed restrictions mandatory rather than voluntary?
There are all kinds of things that can be done, but everyone needs to work together to implement a comprehensive response to ensure that interventions in one place do not have a disastrous effect on the neighbours. That is why the federal government needs to step up, stop trying to take over provincial responsibilities so it can feel important, and just do its own job, in its own areas of jurisdiction, to support our citizens and our municipalities in protecting their shorelines, because they urgently need them to be better equipped to withstand erosion. Climate change is just getting started. It is far from being resolved. The climate will become increasingly irregular. People need help, and it is our responsibility to help them.