Thank you, Mr. Chair and Mr. Minister. Unfortunately, we only have 20 minutes here for questions, so we'll probably only get one round in.
In your statement you said that this would be the opportunity to help indigenous peoples and local communities benefit economically and socially, and in prepared questions from the Liberal Party you went into more detail about how this is just so beneficial to indigenous communities.
How did your arbitrary political decision to kill Northern Gateway help the 31 aboriginal equity partners, who stand to lose $2 billion from this political decision that wasn't based on science and with evidence that wasn't based on any independent regulator's review? You talk about meaningful consultation on the coast. To my knowledge, no coastal first nations communities were consulted on the northern tanker ban, which is another arbitrary decision that was not based on science. None of the aboriginal and Métis communities that had signed equity partnership agreements, a world-leading system that would give them a 33% stake in this project, were consulted, as well.
How do you reconcile talking about meaningful consultation when you abandoned the aboriginal equity partners and did not consult them before killing economic opportunity in their communities?