I want to make the point that as somebody who has worked in the forest industry managing a wastewater treatment plant for a company and also doing environmental assessment in the oil sands, I'm always irked by this idea that we are “moving to a clean economy” as if we are in a dirty economy now.
That is absolute nonsense. Everything that's built today in the natural resources industry—forestry, mining, pipelines—is clean and is done to the highest standards in the world. I recommend that you follow the work on the Modern Miracle Network, spearheaded by Michael Binnion, who is completely frustrated by the slagging that the natural resource industry gets from this government.
I met with a group of people from a labourers' union after your government basically shut down three pipelines. These people were devastated. These are little people who wanted to work on pipelines, make a good living and, again, these people now are lost.
I met with a welding organization. There was a bunch of welders who were looking forward to the Energy East project as a way to buttress their retirement as they move along in life, and because of a process gone wild, that project was cancelled and the hopes and dreams of these people were lost.
I would urge this government to care about people first.