Thank you, Chair.
I'd like to welcome the officials to the committee.
On the national trade corridors fund, I'll bring this full circle. We all come from different regions of the country. The region that I was blessed to be born and raised in is the north coast of British Columbia. I'm from the wonderful port city of Prince Rupert.
I have many friends who still work there at the container port in the capacity of longshoremen and so forth. My understanding today is that the Infrastructure Bank—there's a story in The Globe and Mail—has made a $150-million investment in the container port. That $150-million investment was announced as part of a larger $750-million expansion of the port of Prince Rupert, and it's great to see. Those are really good, high-paying jobs. We know international trade draws and creates jobs that pay above average and have great benefits and futures for Canadians, which is great to see.
I know people have asked a lot of questions on certain details, but if we take a step back and think about the billions the government has chosen to invest in Canadian infrastructure and in Canadians, and the confidence it's demonstrated in doing so, how important is a program like the national trade corridors fund to that? I will say the port of Prince Rupert has a three-day quicker shipping time to the ports of Asia than Long Beach, Seattle and Vancouver.
Let me throw that out there. Whoever wishes to answer that first may do so.