Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to stand in the House to address the important issues that affect people in my riding, but today especially as this is the first time I speak in this new Parliament, having received my fifth mandate from the good residents and constituents of Provencher.
I especially want to thank the people who helped me get here this time, including my wife, Irene, my family members, my staff, my many, many volunteers and of course the people who came out daily to help me put on a very successful campaign.
Today I rise in this House to speak to the issue of wildfire emergencies and how they have impacted my riding of Provencher. We have been hearing about wildfires, which are forest fires that have become so consuming that the surrounding residential areas are therefore no longer safe for residents.
We listen to experts monitor the wind's direction, realizing that a sudden change in course could force immediate evacuation from one's home. That is when everything one owns and has collected, gathered as keepsakes, milestones or reminders and when pictures, certificates and memories of loved ones are all mentally assessed and abruptly weighted for what is the most important before packing a vehicle to leave.
What races through someone's mind after being told they need to evacuate? The possibility of a generational home, perhaps the only home they have known as a family, evacuating and not knowing when they will return, not knowing what will be left when they return or whether this is really the last time those familiar surroundings will ever be the same again.
A woman formerly from my riding, in Steinbach, now lives in Flin Flon and had to face that exact scenario and ask, “What do you bring with you when you do not know how long you will be gone or even if you will still have a home when you return? She notes that in itself is a strange feeling.... [S]he made sure to pack clothes, her medication, and CPAP machine.” She was reassured by the fact that her legal documents were already safely packed away in a safety deposit box. Realizing that she could not pack everything, she said that she needed to focus on what was not replaceable.
The woman went on to say, “I know some of my friends said they had jewelry and stuff from grandparents, etc. So, they did pack that. I feel like everything is replaceable, other than a few things that maybe aren't.” As I read her story in our local paper, I thought of those times when we leave the house and think to ourselves that we can go back and get that later, yet there she was in a convoy watching flames within a mile of her home, in a billow of smoke, facing the finality of what she would choose to bring with her.
Remaining behind her were firefighters, the Office of the Fire Commissioner, the RCMP and, until the last possible moment, health care workers, the mayor, city council and organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
I want to say a big thanks to the Canadian Armed Forces members, who had been helping communities evacuate people and help people leave safely. In my immediate riding, the bravery and effectual efforts of our first responders deserve special mention.
Folks listening to this debate may not know where Provencher is. We think all the forest fires are in the northern parts of Manitoba and the northern parts of Saskatchewan, and there are some there, but I represent the southeast corner of Manitoba, 19,000 square kilometres of beautiful farmland but also beautiful forest and cottage country. It is a really beautiful landscape and a variety of different terrains. There were forest fires in our area as well. We had a bit of good news today that parts of the Whiteshell provincial forest were allowed to be accessed again by individuals who have cottages or residences in that area.
The RM of Piney declared a state of emergency on a Monday in about mid-May, so that is already two weeks back, because of a fire that started between the two communities of Badger and Carrick and also threatened the communities of St. Labre and Woodridge. The fire consumed over 1,000 hectares of land by Tuesday and was moving rapidly to the community of Woodridge.
We have friends in Woodridge, so we called those friends to see how they were doing. My friend Scott is a firefighter there, a volunteer firefighter, and he was busy out fighting the fire. His wife and another family member had already evacuated. They came to my community of Steinbach, which is about half an hour away, where they were safe. They had checked into a hotel, but the volunteer firefighters were fighting fires there 15 hours a day.
I want to put a plug in for our volunteer firefighters. These are the folks who have jobs apart from firefighting, apart from being called out at all hours of the day to different emergencies. There they were. They had left their jobs and were trying to save their communities.
I want to commend the employers who employ these volunteer fire personnel for giving them the flexibility to leave. It is not always convenient for a place of work to allow an employee to leave. The employees are obviously there because they are performing a vital function. Those businesses should be commended for giving their employees that latitude, businesses like the one that offered that flexibility to people like Scott, so he could save and protect his community. Scott said that the fire had gotten to within a kilometre of Woodridge. They were really trying to hold the line there.
I also want to recognize the heavy construction contractors in southeast Manitoba that provided heavy equipment on just a dime's notice and got their equipment operators to work a 15-hour day in a live fire situation, rather than a normal construction day, pushing down bush, making fireguards and fire barriers, and creating the firebreaks that were so necessary to start repelling the fire.
Scott mentioned to me afterward that because the heavy equipment in the area was able to push some of the bush, it contained the fire and gave them the reprieve they needed. Then the wind changed, and they were able to successfully defend the community of Woodridge.
Just outside La Broquerie, the crews battled a 750-acre blaze for eight hours, which included farmland, bush and swamp. Fire Chief JC Normandeau of the La Broquerie fire department said the flames were 15 to 20 feet high and running away from them. He explained that it took quite a while to get it under control because it had spread out over such a wide area. Thanks to the skilled work of the volunteer firefighters, the fire was steered away from the structures on the land and no injuries were reported. Chief Normandeau said, “We just didn't want it to cross [Highway] 302 and go west. We had other barns and structures in the path of the fire on that side”. They needed to keep it on the east side, and they succeeded in doing that.
However, as Chief Allan Rau with the rural municipality of Taché's fire department said, when urging all residents to adhere to the strict fire restrictions, “Wildland firefighting is extremely taxing, and it...takes a lot of energy and physical resources to make a concerted effort on a wildland fire.”
I will say out loud that I am compelled to urge the federal government to do more. We know that we are not powerless against these wildfires. Having better proactive forest management, including clear-cut logging, removal of deadwood and prescribed burns can help mitigate such threats.
We are indebted to our frontline workers, who remain on the ground and battle for the rest of us. Every day they put their own lives at risk to save us and our communities. We give our unwavering appreciation and support to those who rush into danger to save others.
I also want to acknowledge others who are helping fight the fires in my area: 38 personnel from Alberta, 87 personnel from B.C., 19 personnel from Parks Canada, 23 personnel from New Brunswick and two personnel from P.E.I. There are also 500 sprinklers from B.C., as well as two AT802 aircraft and one bird dog airplane from Minnesota, so we had the international help we needed to fight these fires.
As of yesterday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service reported that Manitoba is still under extreme danger, with small pockets of high fire danger. Human activity continues to be a significant contributor. The assistant deputy minister, Kristin Hayward, said that all but four of the fires were started or suspected to have been started by human activity.
We can easily do our part by knowing and following the rules.