Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thanks to all the witnesses for appearing today.
Ensuring that Canada has an appropriate regulatory environment will be critical to maintaining our competitiveness and ensuring more jobs and economic growth in the future. On that point, I'd like to speak to Mr. Swampy. I know that one sector of our economy where there are regulations and regulatory concerns is the energy sector. I have met numerous people from first nations in my time at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. They were amazing individuals. I think many people would be happy to have them as CEOs of their companies, but they're being restricted and there are limitations. We end up with the difference between regulatory burden and political considerations.
There are many ways in which we can support this vital sector. You mentioned the concern about the northern gateway decision, which was political. It had nothing to do with the environment. So many aboriginal groups wanted to be a part of this—39 first nations that produce oil and gas, and the over 100 that rely on the economic benefit from pipelines passing through their territories—but we can't get that message to the rest of the politicians who make these decisions. I'm just wondering if you can give a bit of an idea as to how we could change this so that there are no more decisions made in that manner.