HAVRE-AUBERT, Que. –
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to the Magdalen Islands in Quebec on Thursday, pledging federal support for the archipelago hit by post-tropical storm Fiona last weekend.
Trudeau met with Deputy Mayor Gaétan Richard as well as fishers, seniors and small business owners. The federal government, Trudeau said, will partner with Quebec to help those affected by the storm, which made landfall on Saturday and brought hurricane-force winds.
“We have investments to make and we are going to be partners with Quebec,” he promised without announcing anything specific.
Accompanied by National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier, who represents the region in Parliament, Trudeau said Canada needed to better adapt its infrastructure to climate change, which increases the likelihood of devastating storms.
“The reality is that we are going to see more and more intense storms in the years to come… We will have to adapt our infrastructure,” he told reporters at the waterfront in Havre-Aubert, Quebec.
While Ottawa dispatched hundreds of Canadian Armed Forces members to the Atlantic region to help clean up Fiona, officials in the Magdalen Islands made no request for help. Defense Minister Anita Anand, however, said the army was ready to intervene if necessary.
Last weekend, Fiona battered the islands with winds of over 120 kilometers per hour, damaging roads, roofs and shorelines and inundating buildings.
Trudeau acknowledged it was a tough call for fishermen at the Pointe-Basse wharf, where many boats remained moored during the storm because a faulty crane prevented them from being pulled out of the water. .
Fortunately, the boats were not too damaged. “It was close, too close,” Trudeau told the fishermen, who asked for more federal help to renovate the wharf.
Back in Havre-Aubert, Trudeau was asked why his government was approving offshore oil projects at a time of climate change. Trudeau noted that areas like the Magdalen Islands still rely on fossil fuels.
“Yes, we need to accelerate the energy transition, we need to reduce our dependence on oil and gas, but we are still in a situation where we need it.” He pointed around: “All those cars, all that energy on the islands, we still depend on fossil fuels.”
All new fossil fuel projects in the country – including the recently approved multi-billion dollar Equinor offshore oil project in Newfoundland and Labrador – must be part of the country’s plan to have net zero emissions. by 2050, Trudeau said.
— This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 29, 2022.