QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Assistance for Victims of Flooding
May 1, 2019
My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. My province and much of eastern Canada are struggling with major floods. There are floods and evacuations happening in almost every municipality in the senatorial district I represent, Mille Isles. At least 6,000 residents of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac have been evacuated, and several hundred homes have been destroyed, will be uninhabitable or will have to be rebuilt even though they were not in flood-prone areas.
At noon today, a headline came through announcing that Ottawa is refusing to commit to providing financial compensation to flood victims. Even worse, the article also stated that Ottawa has not given the Red Cross a penny to help people in need.
Leader of the Government, could you have a word with the Prime Minister to make sure funds will be available to flood victims, or at least to the Red Cross? How can the government turn down these people, our fellow citizens, who are going through such a difficult time?
I thank the honourable senator for his question and I share with him, as I’m sure all senators do, our concerns for all Canadians in the provinces that are so deeply affected with these floods, principally Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
That is why the government took action to provide the military to assist the local communities. That is why the government has, at the request of the provinces, invoked the emergency measures capacity that exists.
With regard to the specific question of aid to the Red Cross, I will, of course, bring it to the attention of the government.
Leader, I would like you to pass along the message that once a house has been flooded, it is destroyed. In Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac some 1,500 homes will become uninhabitable. Could you pass this on to the Prime Minister and ask him to visit and see how this flood has affected the community? He needs to open the government’s purse strings and compensate those who are in need. I think it’s unacceptable that this government is ignoring these people. Right now, the government is ignoring Canadians in need.
Again, honourable senator, you will know that the Prime Minister and other ministers mostly affected in their responsibilities for these matters have not only visited the regions affected, but have also made themselves available to media and to community leaders on a regular basis to update and to be informed as to what measures in support can be undertaken.
I think we should all acknowledge the tremendous work being done by our military to aid the civil authorities. Again, I will certainly bring attention to the concerns of the honourable senator.
