Thank you.
Thank you, Minister, for joining us here today.
Since the late 19th century, the mining industry in my riding of Sudbury, something that I will take every opportunity to talk about and promote, has produced more than eight million tonnes of base metals. Unfortunately, as we now know, early mining methods scarred the land and acidified the lakes. Despite the economic gains of the booming mining industry, we had to take action, and we had to change the way things were being done. Today, as we all know, Sudbury's regreening process has been recognized globally for our successful environmental rehabilitation.
On this topic, I have a few questions for you, Minister. I'll start by asking if you could explain how the ERF program will play a part and fit into our government's plan to cap emissions from the oil and gas sector. The second part of my question is this: Could you also expand on some of the long-term benefits we can expect to see from this program?