We believe the natural resource industry is the strongest industy in Canada. We have focused our means to our goal to partner with natural resource industries in order to bring us out of poverty. We believe poverty is the cause of all our social ills. Teenage suicide, domestic violence, lack of education—everything you can think of that we have been struggling with for the last 150 years has come because we do not participate fully in this economy. In order to participate fully in this economy, we need to grasp the natural resource industry as an ally. We need to work with the natural resource industry fully and to participate in, and in some cases lead, the natural resource industry. We've seen that happen in northern British Columbia with TMX, and the desire for first nations to go out there and become part of this natural resource industry.
We believe the government has the duty and the right to recognize this problem that exists and that continues to fester within our communities. If we cannot excel in our ability to participate in natural resource industries—through legislation that will stifle investments—then we will be subject to abject poverty for many generations to come.