Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ministers, for being here today.
Minister Miller,16 of the 20 first nations along the route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline have signed agreements to acquire a 10% equity stake in the project. These communities also have other business partnerships including project supply chain contracts, mutual benefit agreements, etc. This obviously allows them to invest in thriving communities through investments in culture, sports, health and education programs as well as infrastructure. What we're talking about here is an opportunity of a lifetime for long-term, generational economic prosperity, but the equity options can only be executed once the pipeline actually is in service. We've seen extremely violent protests. We've seen rhetoric both on the ground and online by celebrities, by foreign-funded extremists.
I don't see any mention of any of this in the estimates, the department plans, the results. I don't see any discussion around this anywhere. I'm just curious to know what the government is doing to ensure this project gets built so that these first nations can receive the benefits they rightly deserve from this project.