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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Whitby for his strong, unwavering advocacy for rural issues.

We know that investments toward high-speed Internet are transformational for improving the lives of rural Canadians, whether they are working from home, accessing health care and education or, frankly, keeping in tough. Today, 93.5% of Canadians have access to high-speed affordable Internet. In 2014, just 79% of Canadians had access. As my colleague said, we are well under way to meeting our commitment of having everybody connected by 2030. When rural Canada succeeds, all of Canada succeeds.

Mr. Speaker, I love to get up and talk about Atlantic Canadians, where I am from, because I was so proud when my hon. colleague behind me was in Halifax. In his riding, we announced the $5,000 grant for Canadians, and Atlantic Canadians especially, to get off oil heat. That is going to help many people in Atlantic Canada and in my riding of Long Range Mountains. It is a grant to get off oil, which is what we all need to do.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague and many others that our government will fully support respectful, law-abiding hunters, including those who hunt traditionally, as they do in my province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and indigenous hunters, sports hunters and target shooters.

Sadly, yesterday, we all stood in the House and recognized the tragedy at École Polytechnique that happened 33 years ago. We all need to work together to make sure that assault-style weapons stay out of our country, and that is what we are going to do.

Madam Speaker, we all remember sadly the events of 30-odd years ago, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the young women whose lives were tragically taken.

There is also another tragedy in my riding of a different scale, which is of course due to climate change. We all saw the impact of hurricane Fiona, the largest hurricane to hit Canada and wallop eastern Canada, and I would love to know my colleague's response regarding the supports we are giving in the fall economic statement to help these communities rebuild and get back on their feet after this terrible climate action.

Mr. Speaker, I am one of those hunters, and I know I can speak for all the hunters in this room when I say that we cannot stand it when we see a firearm used, as we heard earlier about Polytechnique, to take other innocent lives.

I would hope we all want to work together to make this bill the best it can be. The terrible misuse of information out there has to stop.

I am also going to tell members that I challenge anyone to please reach out with a specific make and model. The devil is in the details. The weapons on that list are not—

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Madam Speaker, I would like to talk about another group of families, whom I have been invited to go to cook for and serve Christmas dinner to next weekend. They are the over 125 people who lost their homes due to hurricane Fiona. They have no homes. They are living with family and friends and in temporary housing as we rebuild.

It is our government that is helping them now. It is our government that has a plan to fight climate change. If we go to visit my riding, they are the first to stand up and say, please, address the impacts of climate change. We have to act, and we have to act now.

Madam Speaker, I have been a hunter and fisher all my life. I have great memories of hunting with my dad and I wish he were here now, because he would support me 100%.

My friends and I have looked at the amendments to Bill C-21. We agree. Every time a firearm kills an innocent person, that hurts a law-abiding gun owner. My friends support Bill C-21. We all have to do our part to get assault-style weapons off this planet.

Mr. Speaker, I find that quite rich coming from the party opposite, which promised a climate plan but has not delivered. The people in my riding want action on climate right now.

The impacts of Fiona are still being felt on the ground. Now, in addition to the damages done to personal homes, infrastructure, waste water and municipal infrastructure, we have added four feet of snow to that. My constituents want action on the climate now.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague from Egmont for his work during these horrific times of hurricane Fiona.

We have all seen the heartbreaking images from hurricane Fiona, and even though they may not be on the national news, they are burned in our hearts forever. I want to assure everyone impacted that we are there to help them get back on their feet and on the to road to recovery.

We know it is a long road to recovery. I was delighted to see in the fall economic statement the Deputy Prime Minister commit an additional $1 billion to the disaster financial assistance agreement with the provinces. I want to assure everyone impacted by this that we are with them every step of the way.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell members what we cannot afford. We cannot afford not to do something on climate change. I want to put some faces to what happens if we do not act on climate change.

I want to talk about Norm, who saw his wife washed out to sea. I want to talk about Amy and her daughter, who literally ran from their house without shoes on their feet. I want to talk about Smokey, who was pulled from the ocean by his brother.

I want to talk about Brian Button, who has had to have sit-down conversations with over 100 homeowners to tell them that their homes are destroyed and condemned, and there are more on that list.

I want to talk about the people in Burgeo, Burnt Islands, Channel-Port aux Basques and Marguerite—

Mr. Speaker, I want to continue my narrative because I was talking about Canadian lives who were impacted by our not acting on climate change and not acting on climate change now. I have seen people go through the rubble looking for their parents' urns of ashes. I have seen people looking for memorabilia—

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Mr. Speaker, I am talking about Canadian lives. I am talking about the lives of people who have lost their homes or belongings and memorabilia. They have lost everything, and we have to do something on climate change. We have to do something now. We have seen the hurricanes in the Atlantic. We have seen forest fires. We have seen droughts.

The cost of inaction is only going to get worse. I hope nobody has to stand up in the House to talk about a life lost in their riding because of inaction on climate change. Everybody needs to act on this, and we need to act on it now.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his reference to rural and especially to Atlantic Canadians and Quebec Canadians, as we did bear the brunt of Fiona.

The federal government is there to help with disaster financial assistance arrangements with the provinces and with another $300 million administered through ACOA to help the agencies, the communities and those who are falling through the cracks. We will be there for Atlantic Canadians and Quebec Canadians as they battle these storms. That is why we need to address climate change. Ask anybody in my hometown of Port aux Basques if they believe in climate change; they certainly do.

Mr. Speaker, on the ground at home last week, I saw what we know about eastern Canadians: We come together during difficult times.

I want everyone to know that the federal government has come together in these difficult times to help everyone get through this. On top of the disaster financial assistance arrangements, which are administered through the province and cover up to 90% of the cost of this terrible storm damage, we announced, this week, the hurricane Fiona recovery fund. It is an additional $300 million to help people and businesses whose situations may fall through the cracks under the DFAA.

The federal government will be there with every person, every community and every business as we build back stronger and get back on our feet in Atlantic Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk to my hon. colleague across the way and tell her some things that we are doing.

We know that high-speed Internet is a connectivity issue for rural Canadians. Since 2015, we have connected 1.2 million homes. By 2026, we are going to connect another 1.2 million homes. By 2026, we will have 98% of Canada connected to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet. That is going to help rural Canadians get on par with urban Canadians. It is truly going to help all Canadians.