Thank you for your question.
I provided some statistics in my opening statement, but let me expand a bit.
In terms of post-construction, over the first 20 years of the project's operating period, Trans Mountain is expected to provide another 36,000 man-years of employment. That's a huge employment base and a huge tax base for the country. This is the kind of economic stimulation the country needs, in terms of contributing to the GDP and having a tax base.
On the export and balance of trade side, we're already seeing 300,000 to 400,000 additional barrels being exported from Canada. There's room for a couple hundred thousand more in there. That doesn't only have a benefit in terms of direct value. It also reduces the differential that was in place when Canada had a locked-in supply and one major customer. For every one dollar in reduced differential, it's a $1.2-billion increase in GDP for Canada. I think these numbers come from the parliamentary budget office.
At the time it was approving and reviewing the Trans Mountain expansion, the National Energy Board was thinking that the differential may shrink by approximately nine dollars. We don't have an exact forecast, but we've already seen a shrinking of that. This will lead to hundreds of billions of dollars in economic impact over a 20-year period for Canada. It would have been lost without this project going forward. That's a huge benefit in terms of trade balance, tax base and employment.
In terms of indigenous, I gave a number for direct employment and ongoing arrangements. The oil and gas industry has been a major employer of indigenous people. It's providing them with one of the highest...in terms of indigenous opportunities for employment. Our figures show that, on average, it's about $140,000 a year in terms of salaries for indigenous jobs. It has closed the wage gap between indigenous and non-indigenous. We're seeing, now, the opportunity to not just move forward with jobs and benefit agreements but also to move towards equity participation in the energy industry. It's leading the country. That's the next generation of opportunity for indigenous communities.
Thank you.