Thank you.
I'm so pleased to welcome everyone here to St. John's, to this piece of Newfoundland and Labrador in particular. I am really grateful for this opportunity for us to be able to understand in a very specific way the concerns of so many important organizations and certainly municipalities and groups within the province. I'm pleased to have my colleague with me, and we'll split our time as we move through the morning.
I would like to start with you, Ms. Walsh, with the municipalities. Thank you for your opening statement.
You know we really are in a unique place in this province, certainly from my perspective. Even in this riding, I have municipalities and their needs are very different from what I see in the centre of the city. The reality is that the population is very low and the province is quite large. How do we continue to balance the needs of communities with existing populations? Understanding the demographics of the population as well, how do we continue to encourage development? I think we have tremendous opportunities going forward in terms of economic development in our communities. How do we support the movement, particularly of newcomers, to this place, into rural parts of the province? How do we support housing initiatives so that municipalities are really able to take a lead in terms of housing in response to our housing needs? Then, ultimately, how do we work across all government sectors—obviously the provincial government is a critical part of this conversation—as we continue to move into the realities of the 21st century?
I agree that infrastructure is significant. The climate crisis is real, and we have to prepare for what are now common occurrences of extreme weather events. How do we manage all of these things while at the same time continuing to understand that rural Newfoundland and Labrador is integral to our future as a prosperous province?