Thank you to both of you for being here today to help us with the study we have undertaken.
Mr. Kinsley, most of the arguments you have presented today are based on economics and make sense. You claim that we must turn towards Asia to find new markets for western oil, and that it is not a good thing to have only a single client. Because as it now stands, we depend entirely on that single client to set the price he is willing to pay, whereas if we had several clients, we could get a better price.
I completely agree with you, that's true. This is an economic argument and I believe that other arguments can be made in the study we have undertaken. Other arguments include the one made by Mr. Sterritt regarding the rights of aboriginals, whose lands will be affected. Of course, natural resources fall under provincial jurisdiction, but aboriginal rights fall under Ottawa's jurisdiction. I wanted to frame the issue this way.
You know that Quebec had the same problem which you will or might be faced with, as well. We wanted to develop hydroelectricity in northern Quebec on native land. We built power plants on the lands of the Cree, the Naskapi and the Inuit. Legally, you cannot build something on your neighbour's land without first obtaining his consent to be absolutely sure that you have the right to do so. This is why in Quebec, we signed an agreement with the aboriginal nations—which took a long time to negotiate—and which is called the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Canada was involved, that is, the federal government, of course, because it is the trustee of aboriginal rights. Therefore, we worked very hard, very specifically, over a very long time, to meet the needs of aboriginal people, to meet the needs of those who wanted to build the power stations, and to meet the needs of the federal government, since it is responsible for protecting the rights of aboriginal people in the long run. We ultimately signed an agreement which was recognized as being an extraordinary one, since it was one of the first major agreements we signed with aboriginal people.
So if you want to send oil through a pipeline over native land, what kind of long-term, well thought-out and detailed agreement have you begun to undertake, or are thinking of undertaking, with the aboriginal people who will be affected?