Certainly, the idea is to build up the oil and gas sector in Atlantic Canada so that Atlantic Canadians do not have to go to Alberta to work two weeks on and two weeks off. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the offshore oil industry right now accounts for one third of their GDP, and the idea is to continue to build that up so that people don't have to go back and forth.
The biggest benefactors of the out-migration and interprovincial migration are the airlines. From Pascan Aviation, based in Quebec to Air Canada and other small carriers, the transporting of the employees back and forth is one of the largest beneficiaries here on the Atlantic side, along with the airports and the other infrastructure associated with that function.
The toll it takes on the families is significant. The longer-term initiative would be to develop the oil and gas sector here in Atlantic Canada. As I mentioned earlier, Nova Scotia, with its offshore program on the natural gas side, has created more than 1,000 jobs. In Newfoundland and Labrador there are 6,000 jobs.
We'd like to see New Brunswick share in part of that. The 70 trillion cubic feet of proven and probable resources of natural gas in New Brunswick far outweigh what there is in Nova Scotia. That's why we consider the potential of developing the oil and gas sector here in New Brunswick as transformational.