Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.
I have a couple of questions for Mr. Archer that are directly related to the topic of the study here today.
You advocated previously calling for the Line 5 pipeline to remain in operation. You called on the Prime Minister to reach out to the American government on behalf of “citizens of Canada, skilled tradespeople, and the families who depend upon the oil and gas industry to provide their livelihood and sustain their quality of life”. In your opening statement today, you talked about a recent point in time when 300 of your members were on an out-of-work list.
My first question for you is this: When it comes to the oil and gas industry, have the choices of the current Liberal government—whether it be killing pipelines like energy east and northern gateway, or restricting the ability to get oil and gas projects approved through unconstitutional red tape like Bill C-69—negatively impacted those tradespeople and workers and their families, who rely on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods?