Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to again rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola.
Where I parted ways with my speech was when I was talking about things that people in my riding and communities in my riding had asked for. For instance, one of the things I wrote to the finance minister about, which I do not believe was addressed, as none of these things were addressed, was the Village of Clinton struggling with housing. Imagine that. The government tells us about how much it is building, yet the Village of Clinton continues to struggle with housing. Where is its support? It is absolutely non-existent.
What about consultations for the Village of Ashcroft? Ashcroft has critical infrastructure challenges. The community serves a number of outlying areas in addition to the community itself, and the collective tax base cannot cover critical infrastructure. The village needs upgrades to the sewer plant and water reservoir for a sustainable future. I wrote to the Minister of Justice on this. We will see. It looks like crickets so far.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has a number of needs, especially when it comes to housing. There is also water and waste-water infrastructure for rural communities, which is central to building houses, and the government is silent. There is emergency preparedness and ongoing streamlined funding to support emergency operations, fire halls and things like that. We do not see smaller communities being supported in this budget.
The First Nations' Emergency Services Society of British Columbia also put something forward. I have not heard back on that one.
What about Merritt? I was overwhelmed to be in Merritt recently. The government promised money to Merritt for the flooding and the dikes. It got none. The province contributed. The federal government was there for the photo ops. It has done nothing.