Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Binnion, for being here today.
Decades ago one of our premiers made that comment that we were going to leave the oil in the ground for Saskatchewan residents. I think that was possibly the worst decision that was ever made in our province, because by the time things were done, we were left decades behind our neighbour province, which had decided to make that development.
I'm a bit concerned, because I think I'm hearing some of the same arguments or some of that same discussion today. It just about destroyed us--well, it did destroy us--in terms of population growth. We were leading the population in the west at the time, and when it was done, our population was a third of what Alberta's is. Our economic development lagged by many years. We spent decades taking equalization from the federal government before we were finally able to get away from that.
We've had good development recently, particularly in my area in southeast Saskatchewan. It's made a huge difference to the local economy. This morning you were talking about some of the things that it's impacted. Our young people are able to stay in the communities and stay around. I think that's a concern for all of us who have any rural areas in our ridings.
You mentioned the construction jobs. We have lots of folks around with backhoes and trackhoes and that kind of thing, and it makes it easier for those of us who live there to get services as well. I mentioned employment for our young people, and it's certainly boosted the economy, both locally and in terms of export.
We were talking a little earlier about the impact in Quebec in particular, and I see that the document that was prepared for us by the analysts states that the most noteworthy shale formations in Canada include the Horn River shale in northeast British Columbia and the Utica shale natural gas field in Quebec, which is what we're talking about.
Can you tell me a little bit about the contributions that shale gas in the Utica field can make to the Quebec economy?