Thank you very much, Mr. Harris.
First of all, let me say that I am also from British Columbia. You said that when we knew there was a small contained area, it was actually right in the Tweedsmuir Park area. Every time I come home, my daughter still wants to talk about this. She's devastated by this. She's done some research in school, and she's in grade five.
Why didn't we cut down all the trees?
In fairness, it was the provincial government at the time. There was an ongoing debate in the early nineties. The provincial government at the time—it wasn't the federal government—refused to allow the harvesting of those trees in an effort to contain it.
But in any event, it was almost 15 years ago. Today is today, and we're faced with what we have. The government has made a commitment of $100 million a year over the long term, as you know.
Containment or mitigation is an issue. We know it's so large that it's impossible to contain. If there are areas, especially up in the northeast corner, where there's a way to stop the spread into Alberta, because it's in Alberta now, it's obviously a priority. Fire suppression will be a priority. You cannot ignore the fact of economic diversification, as you've talked about, especially for some of the single-industry towns. Those are areas that we're focused on.
We're obviously looking at the accelerated harvest.
There are a number of pine beetle groups in British Columbia that comprise industry and community members, as well as a task force that the provincial government set up. Obviously, we're in close consultation with them.
The last thing we want to do is go out and invest dollars and not be in lockstep with the province. It's in their backyard. We want to be there to support them. I have regular conversations with the Ministry of Forests in British Columbia. As this moves forward, we're going to be there to support the province in the best way we can and to maximize every single dollar to help the people in these affected areas.