First of all, to your comments about what I said in the speech, I didn't say anything like that in the speech. There was a question period after and I was referring to the potentially transformative impact that resource development can have on aboriginal communities. I cited a visit that I had the privilege of participating in with the Prime Minister during his tour of the north, to Baker Lake, where the unemployment rate had decreased from 40% to 50% down to 2% as a result of a mine being opened in the area.
I said there are immense opportunities for communities that have been suffering from high unemployment for a very long period of time to extricate themselves from this situation through the employment opportunities, as well as cash payments and equity participation, which I gather is being offered right now by the sponsor of the Northern Gateway project. So I don't want to talk about that project beyond that, because it's under regulatory review.
But it is a fact, it's in the public record, that there is some billion dollars on the table for aboriginal communities, and therefore there are opportunities for these communities to really extricate themselves from, in some cases, long periods of high unemployment rates, which all of us decry.
We're living in Canada, a wealthy country, and we all want the very best for aboriginal communities. We see resource development as being potentially an extremely positive opportunity for these communities and for other Canadians as well.