Thank you very much.
Thank you to all of you for the great presentations today.
Before I go into my questions, I want to acknowledge, Ms. Rosales, that any of us as Manitoba members of Parliament would know a number of the topics you touched on in terms of the casework we face. Thank you for your very concrete recommendations.
I also want to thank you, Mr. Hicks, for your presentation. I'm familiar with the document and the good work that you do.
Mr. Hagerman, there is such a robust network of activists and advocates here in Manitoba when it comes to the need for Canada to play a greater role in foreign aid. Thank you for being a voice on that front and for your recommendations.
Obviously I'm cognizant of the fact that we are here to talk about the realities in our province. As many of us know, but perhaps not everybody in our province knows, we as Manitobans do better when all of Manitoba is better. As you know, it's been a very difficult summer for the part of the province that I represent, northern Manitoba. There has been a series of very difficult announcements, but one that involves the federal government in a very major way is the announcement regarding the Port of Churchill. I know a couple of you here today, both the AMM and, of course, the chamber of commerce, have spoken out on this issue.
We're here to talk about what the federal government can be doing for our communities and for our province, so I'd love to ask you, Mr. Groening, as well as you, Mr. Davidson, to perhaps share your perspectives of how important you feel it is for the federal government to come to the table in a long-term sense. Obviously we saw a recent announcement for the short term, which is important, but we need the recognition that there needs to be long-term support for the Port of Churchill. It's a jewel for us in Manitoba, but it's a community that's hurting right now, and a sector that deserves federal help.
We could perhaps start with AMM.
I do want to read into the record that Mayor Mike Spence has been quite vocal about the need for the federal government to nationalize the port and move it to a port authority. I'm wondering, Mr. Groening, if you could share some of AMM's thoughts on this front first.