You first hit the nail on the head with “discussions” with unions. We need to make sure that these major projects are built by unions.
As you know, in your province, there were some issues around TMX and how it was going to originally be built. Union construction members were originally left out of it. We worked with the federal government and pushed hard and got nearly 50% of the work. We did some of the hardest and most necessary work to get it done.
It's very important. If you want to ensure stability, project labour agreements—or community benefit agreements, as they are in your province—show that they work. They create labour stability, ensure disenfranchised folks have an opportunity to work in these jobs—indigenous, women or other groups. The numbers speak for themselves. If you look at British Columbia, there was an increase in the number of indigenous workers who are there and the number of women in the trades. I would love to see more women in the trades, but we need some stability to get them into the workforce. Project labour agreements allow that opportunity to bring women into the trades.
I do think that, in negotiations at the beginning, getting a project labour agreement or a community benefit agreement would be essential to benefit not only the province but the citizens and the workers who are involved in those projects.