NDDN Committee Report

The Bloc Québécois believes that the report fails to fully grasp the urgency of enhancing local disaster mitigation capabilities. Recommendation 6 rightly urges the federal government to "collaborate with provinces and territories." However, the Bloc Québécois argues that the report should ask for concrete actions from the federal government, and urge it to transfer funds to Quebec, provinces, and territories so they can develop their disaster mitigation capacities. Dr. Mike Flannigan has been very clear on this matter: the first step to mitigate forest fires is to "provide more funding to provinces and territories to address fire management activities." 

Given the crucial role played by Quebec, provinces, territories, and their municipalities in managing climate disaster crises, the Bloc Québécois believes that unconditional financial transfers to Quebec, provinces, and territories would more effectively contribute to disaster management. They possess significant expertise due to their local knowledge. By supporting them financially, the federal government could preempt many crises and thereby alleviate some of the burden on the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in domestic operations. Given that Canada's economy is heavily reliant on oil production and that successive governments over the past decades have heavily subsidized this industry, which is directly responsible for climate change, it seems all the more appropriate for the federal government to transfer adequate funds to Quebec, the provinces, and the territories as they are directly affected by the impacts of climate change and are on the front lines of responding to it.  

The Bloc Québécois also notes the report's silence on the rigidity of operational missions domestically. For instance, CAF members are sometimes deployed for over a month without seeing their families, even if their homes are near their deployment sites, such as during flood responses. The chain of command seeks to maintain full capacity, even during operational slowdowns, but could easily implement a rotation system to allow military personnel some time with their families, making domestic deployments less burdensome for them. Given the retention issues facing the CAF, we recommend that the government prioritize conditions that support work-life balance to improve the lives of military personnel and their families.