First of all, I would like to acknowledge the indigenous people from where I am, the Salishan in Vancouver, and the indigenous people in Ottawa. I'm actually not too sure who they are.
Before I speak, I will say that I was the adviser to the Kenney government in setting up the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation. Essentially, it has provided loan guarantees to indigenous groups to get involved in the natural resources sector.
I think there's a great frustration in the indigenous community that their interest in becoming active participants in the economy is being frustrated by government policy, particularly in the natural resources sector. Instead of managing our poverty, there's a huge interest in getting back to the prosperity that existed prior to Europeans coming to the Americas. Since we were deprived of our traditional territories, there's a real need for us to have access to capital.
I would recommend that the federal government look at something like this program on a national basis. I think there's a role for subsidies. Certainly in my lifetime, I've watched subsidies go to every industry. In Quebec, the two big names that come to mind are Bombardier and SNC-Lavalin. There is a role for subsidies. There is a role for government.
Where government steps outside its role, I believe it creates unnecessary costs and burdens on the taxpayer. I think the TMX pipeline is one example of that. We had a pipeline that was going to be built for $7 billion or $7.5 billion—