Thank you for that introduction, Darren. I’m also glad to be joined by ministers Fraser and Petitpas Taylor, as well as MPs Fillmore and Diab.

Before I begin, I would like to congratulate Premier Legault on his re-election. We spoke on the telephone, last night, and I told him I was happy to continue working with him for the good of Quebecers and of all Canadians.

Very grateful to be back here in Atlantic Canada today. Last week I got to see first-hand the damage from the storm and, as I said, it was much worse than images from TV or the Internet could show, especially because I got to meet people who were affected. People like Sean and Amy, who had a house, a neighbour’s roof from two blocks over, fly through the air and slammed into the side of their house. People like Mitch, who’s worried about when he’s going to be able to reopen his seafood shop and get back out on the water. People like Smokey in Port aux Basques, who barely escaped with his life as the waters tugged at and pulled away his home. Hearing their stories, understanding just how devastating this storm was and continues to be for the many tens of thousands of people without power still.

There is still a lot to be done, and the Canadian Armed Forces will continue to provide support. We have extended their deployment by a week in all of the provinces that requested their support. We deployed about 200 more service members, here in Nova Scotia, to help clean up debris, roads and properties. We will continue to be there to help people get through this. That’s what Canadians do! We are there for one another and will continue to be there.

I spoke with a lot of business owners who are taking stock and thinking about how to rebuild, thinking specifically about Barb, who I met last week in Stanley Bridge. She built her antique shop business over 25 years. Last week when Hurricane Fiona hit, the force of the storm dragged the shop across the parking lot, destroying everything she had built in moments. Although there were still china figurines intact on shelves as they were brought across, obviously the water damage to record collections and other antiques was significant and wondering how to rebuild, how to get the shop back to where it was before and prepare for the future was heavily on her and her husband’s mind. Of course, she’s not alone. Farmers saw their crops destroyed. Fishing communities across the region have seen boats damaged and gear lost and wharves and harbours significantly affected. There are countless businesses in the region that are, even as they clean up, wondering how they’re going to be able to rebuild and so today, the federal government is announcing the new $300-million Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund. This fund will be administered through Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, ACOA, and Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, DEC, as well as other federal departments. This funding will support projects to repair and rebuild storm-damaged critical infrastructure, such as wharves, support the clean-up of fishing gear so that boats and marine life can once again safely navigate these waters. Of course, help local businesses and communities rebuild and recover.

I addition to this announcement, we also have other measures already in place to help people affected by Hurricane Fiona. We are proving support through Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements, DFAA, by working with the provinces, and as I announced last week, we are proving tax relief to the affected businesses.

We know that it will take time to rebuild, but the community support and the strength and, as Darren put it, the resilience of Atlantic Canadians is well known. These are communities where people look out for each other, where people step up for each other, where we’re there to help each other out and I can tell you, Canadians from coast to coast to coast are worried about their fellow Canadians here in Atlantic Canada and will continue to step up and support because the community support that I’ve witnessed here on the East Coast gives me not just hope, but assurance that everything will be done to build back even stronger. You’re doing what Canadians have always done, helping each other out and the federal government will be there with you every step of the way.

A little later today, I will be visiting the Canadian Hurricane Centre and we will discuss the work that they, they do to track storms and communicate with emergency services.

 We know that accurate forecasting was a key part of saving lives during this devastating storm and the work that the folks in Environment Canada and the Canadian Hurricane Service Centre continue to do is going to be more and more important in the coming years.

It’s important work that will save lives and allow us to always be as prepared as possible for the storms that, as we know, have unfortunately continued to intensify in the future. Thank you very much for being here!