Mr. Speaker, I wish that I were rising, for the second time in this chamber since my election, with respect to a better topic than the one at hand, but I appreciate that we are having this emergency debate about the ongoing wildfire situation affecting my home province as well as our neighbouring province of Saskatchewan and elsewhere. I know other parts of the country are affected as well. Although the debate is labelled as being about Manitoba and Saskatchewan specifically, we know our fellow Canadians in other provinces are impacted as well, and I think it is important to mention that.

Just as a bit of an update, my portion of the province is not currently under threat of fire, but we are receiving refugees and evacuees from regions of the province that are, and we are certainly doing our part to welcome those folks into our constituency, into our homes in many cases, to make sure that they have a safe place to go. It is important to note that many of the fires are still significantly out of control. They are extreme conditions, and we remain in a province-wide state of emergency. There are also small pockets of high fire danger in other areas of the province. While I am told that after I left Winnipeg yesterday morning they did get a bit of rain, it is certainly not enough and not in the right regions to stem the fires that are currently burning, both under and out of control, nor to stem the focus previously.

I should have noted at the beginning of my speech that I plan to split my time with the member for St. Albert—Sturgeon River.

As Manitoba continues to battle the flames, our firefighters, both professional and volunteer, are deployed from across regions of the province, including from the city of Brandon and Westman. We are responding. Many people have volunteered to go up north to address the challenging circumstances in the constituency of the minister who just spoke, as well as elsewhere. We thank them for their significant commitment to protecting the lives and livelihoods of our northern Manitoba friends.

We also know that we Manitobans are not doing it alone. Deployed in Manitoba alone to address the challenging circumstances that we simply do not have the capacity as one province to manage, there have been 38 personnel from Alberta, 87 personnel from British Columbia, 19 personnel from Parks Canada, 23 personnel from New Brunswick, two personnel from Prince Edward Island, 500 sprinklers from our friends in British Columbia and two skimmers and one bird dog plane from our friends in Minnesota. On behalf of Brandon—Souris constituents and all Manitobans, I say a hearty and heartfelt “thank you” to our friends from other provinces and our friends in Minnesota for their support at this incredibly challenging time.

Manitobans continue to urge people to follow carefully all fire and travel restrictions. This is at level 3, as of the latest fire bulletin published by the Province of Manitoba's emergency measures team, and it is important for Manitobans to understand that those measures are in effect.

We have heard a lot of talk already tonight and through the evening about the impact of climate change. We are not here to debate that necessarily, but it is important to note that the Province of Manitoba is reporting that over half, approaching three-quarters, of the fires so far are known to have been caused by human activity. It remains a challenge for our fire and emergency measures personnel that human activity is causing these fires, not intentionally I am sure, but accidentally in the vast majority of cases. It is still a significant challenge, so Manitobans are urged at this time to be very cautious with their actions and their activities. We certainly do not need more strain on our emergency services personnel at this time. We thank Manitobans for their commitment.

In addition, a number of chiefs have spoken publicly to the media about their frustration with folks who right now are not following the request to evacuate communities. I just cannot stress enough, in this important, hallowed chamber, how impactful and how necessary it is for folks in those communities that are under an evacuation order to please follow the commentary from the provincial government and the professionals. Folks should please respect those notices as they receive them. This is for their health and safety. These are not safe places to be right now. It is very important that they follow the requests of provincial officials and remove themselves from those areas if they are under an evacuation order.

From the bottom of my heart, with all common sense in mind, I know this must be difficult. I myself was evacuated from my family home during the 2011 flood season in southwestern Manitoba. It was a significant water event, a once-in-300-years flood in our community. The military was called in by former NDP premier Greg Selinger and former prime Minister Stephen Harper, working together across party lines to save our community. They certainly did. We were evacuated from our home for over a month. I know they are not easy decisions to make, to leave everything that someone owns and everything that they know behind. They may not find it there when they return, but it is so important that people do so to protect themselves and protect their families. They should please respect those evacuation orders when they come.

We know that there is a lot of ground to cover. There are thousands of hectares currently burning. Again, I will reiterate my thanks to the professionals who are working diligently to get the out-of-control fires under control and maintain the ones that are out of control. It is so important that we respect and support them in everything they do. I know Brandon—Souris residents are certainly doing that.

Over the weekend, a number of C-130 Royal Canadian Air Force planes landed at the Brandon Municipal Airport. They came from the RCAF headquarters in Winnipeg. We know they are leading the emergency response now that the request for support has been received. To those fine folks who put uniforms on and put their lives on the line to protect this country, both at home and abroad, I say that I sincerely appreciate their support and their work at this incredibly challenging time.

Brandon received those planes. It is currently housing several hundred, if not over a thousand, evacuees within hotels and across the city. We know that things are getting challenging. My team reached out to the City of Brandon's team earlier today in advance of my giving this debate and wanted to make sure the main message from the City of Brandon is to those folks who have been evacuated, who are landing in the city of Brandon: It is so important that they register with the Red Cross so that we know where they are, they can be tracked and services can be delivered to them.

That is the message, folks. If someone is landing in Brandon and accommodations are being provided, they should please remember to register with the Red Cross. We know people have a lot on the go right now, but it is so important to make sure that they get the services they need and deserve at this time when they are evacuated from their homes.

I know other regions of Brandon—Souris are stepping up as well. In fact, even my hometown of Souris just developed a new campground and has made campsites available, obviously at no cost to evacuees. Evacuees will be housed in hotels first, but depending on how long this situation drags on for, and we hope it is not long, Souris has made accommodations available in alternative formats if folks want to get out of the hotel after a short stay there. These are important initiatives.

Brandon—Souris and Westman are welcoming the evacuees with open arms while we send our first responders north to address the situation there. I am very proud to represent these hard-working and very caring Westman and Brandon—Souris residents. I thank them for their commitment to dealing with this situation.

I look forward to hearing more from the government members about the steps they are taking to address this initiative and support the evacuees and the province of Manitoba in getting these fires under control.

Grant Jackson