Thank you very much, Chair, and I'll be sharing some time with Vance, a very hard-working former mayor in the Niagara region as well.
My first question is, of course, for FedDev.
I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge your work in steel. I'm co-chair of the all-party steel caucus. Recently we had the ambassador to Japan in Sault Ste. Marie. He certainly pointed out something you alluded to, the EV supply chains, which we haven't talked a lot about.
Perhaps you could expand a little more on the opportunities for, say, the steel industry and other industries as it relates to the EV battery announcement that Honda recently made. A lot has been talked about mining, and a lot has been talked about car production, but there are the investments both in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie.
Sault Ste. Marie is a $420-million announcement, which is generational, in funding. We were saying that in 2021, and I was glad to hear it again and again and again. It's going to anchor Sault Ste. Marie for a long time. If you recall, FedDev did make an announcement with the previous federal Conservative government. I remember it was on July 24, 2015. I won't forget the date, because a week later, there was an election. However, after I won and even before I was sworn in, I was called to a meeting and heard that Algoma Steel was going into restructuring. That's the kind of due diligence that the previous government had done on that.
On this particular investment, it's going to take a million gas-powered cars off the road, or close to it. Where else do you see these supply chains? Expand on the Algoma Steel example. The ambassador was very impressed. He and a lot of people made the point that it's not just governments; it's the market and it's the people. If someone wants to drive an electric vehicle.... If there was somebody who was competing against that steel industry, he would point out, “Well, that's being made with coal.”
Perhaps you'd like to expand on that, and then after you're done, I'll pass my time to Vance.