Evidence of meeting #108 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was project.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Dr. Lewis.
To conclude our line of questioning today, I'll turn the floor over to Ms. Murray.
Ms. Murray, the floor is yours. You have five minutes.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you very much.
It's been interesting talking about public benefits from infrastructure. Thank you for that.
I have a question on that for Ms. Raitt.
It's nice to see you, Lisa. It's been a few years. We were in Parliament together for a number of years.
We have been discussing the public benefits of infrastructure. You expressed concern about government infrastructure investments and the potential for a downgrading of credit rating, and you mentioned a particular province, but you've also acknowledged that CIB investments have benefits, and you've particularly mentioned the Royal York project. Could you share some of the specific benefits of the Royal York project from a public interest perspective?
12:45 p.m.
As an Individual
I would say that there's a significant commercial benefit to the project. It's one where there was a conversion. I don't know if it has commenced or if it's completed yet, Ms. Murray, but the Royal York hotel in downtown Toronto was going to undergo modifications and changes to its structure in order to become net-zero—in fact, probably beyond net-zero. They felt that was a marketing gain for them. Of course, it was a gain for them in terms of reducing their carbon footprint, which goes into the overall goal of the government to be net-zero by 2050.
Those were the benefits that the CIB explained when I conducted the interview with Mr. Cory.
April 11th, 2024 / 12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Great. Thank you for clarifying that.
I do have a question for you, Mr. Pawlowski. It has to do with public benefits. As a British Columbian, I know that there has been a huge movement toward first nations involvement in public-private partnerships or major infrastructure projects. Canada has really facilitated that as well with, for example, the pipeline from Alberta to the west coast, the Trans Mountain pipeline. I know that there are conversations and that work is under way so that over 100 first nations, all the nations along the route, may have an opportunity to have an ownership stake.
I'm interested in your company's policies, principles or objectives around first nations ownership, going beyond mitigating impacts on first nations but actually having them as co-owners in projects. Could you speak to us about your thoughts on that with this connector project and/or in general for your company?
12:45 p.m.
Vice-President, NextEra Energy Transmission
Yes. Thank you very much.
When we look at our efforts with first nations—and, by the way, with almost any other stakeholder that's included in any of our projects—we definitely take a “stakeholder first” approach. We engage with first nations and others to make sure that we have the conversations, which we've just started, in order to figure out what the right opportunities are in terms of both potential investment and other levels of participation, including community benefits. We take that view on any of the projects my team works on.
For example, in the United States we're working on a project that goes through the state of Oklahoma. We are very active in discussions, or much further in discussions, with the Cherokee Nation, for example, which is a native American tribe in Oklahoma. We take the view that it's important for us to engage early and often to understand both what the engagement looks like and what issues we may need to address on a specific project.
It's very much an education of the stakeholder, such as a first nation, on what we're doing, but it's also to understand and value the feedback we're getting on what the important aspects are to the areas we're potentially impacting with our project.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Okay.
Could you comment on the positives through the Lake Erie connector project of Canada learning from the United States' work on engagement and ownership by first nations, and vice versa?
12:45 p.m.
Vice-President, NextEra Energy Transmission
Yes. Again, I'll point to some of the other projects we've done. I believe there is a role for all stakeholders involved in these kinds of projects, but I think it's also important for all the stakeholders to truly understand the benefits that these kinds of projects bring. As we've heard, increased loads, and increased economic development as a result of those loads, create the opportunities for these types of projects to be a key resource for the Canadian taxpayer and for all the stakeholders involved, including first nations.
12:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Ms. Murray.
On behalf of the committee members, I want to thank all our witnesses for appearing before us today and giving us their time so generously.
This meeting is adjourned.