Thank you for that.
There are two elements that I'd like to talk about very briefly.
One is the economic potential of the north. There is huge resource potential. The reality is that our economy is relatively weakly developed, or immature. What this means is that when we do a mine in the Northwest Territories, when we do an oil and gas pipeline or a project, the economic benefits often accrue out to provinces in the south. There are particularly huge impacts in places such as Ontario and Alberta, which provide a great deal of our goods and services. What's good for the north in terms of opening up that economic potential of both our mineral and our oil and gas sectors is often very good for the rest of Canada. That transfers over to things like federal taxes, and those sorts of things, both corporate and the overall personal tax.
Again, in terms of development in the north, although we prefer that mines and those kinds of developments hire locals, often they hire people from southern Canada, as well. So it is helping those economies, as well. That's one element.
The other side of it is the issue around sovereignty. If Canada wants to be known as a northern country and exert itself in the Arctic, having strong communities is the best way of doing this. Strong communities mean having affordable housing. It means having an economy where people can live. I think that's a huge part of the argument to the rest of Canada as to why investing in the north is a worthwhile endeavour.