Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This does get complicated. I know of rivers that originate in the United States that would be connected to the Blackfoot Confederacy. They come through Canada and return to the United States.
In some water agreements, percentages of water are retained in one country, with an international agreement. The water use is retained in Canada. We also have water agreements from B.C. to Manitoba on the amount of water each province can retain from that river flow. We have a number of very complicated agreements and international agreements sitting out there that this would affect when you talk about connections. It's not as simple as you might suggest in this conversation. It's very complicated.
Those agreements on the international water that affect the Blackfoot Confederacy, for example.... On both sides of the border, that agreement is being.... They've spent 10 years renegotiating that particular agreement, because it's very complicated. It's not simple. When we say “connected”, it's not simple.
The headwaters of the Saskatchewan rivers come out of B.C. through the western provinces all the way to Hudson Bay. When we say “connect”, this is a lot of territory and a lot of....
There are agreements that provinces have on water usage and percentage, and across international borders. When you say “connect”, this is a red flag for me. It's a tough issue, not only between provinces but internationally.