Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here with us today and taking our questions.
You and I have spoken in the recent past about the situation facing Prince Rupert, a community that's struggling with a serious infrastructure deficit. This is a small community, a small city, that supports Canada's third-fastest-growing port and can't accommodate future port growth unless it addresses its drinking water infrastructure crisis. As you know, over Christmas the city had to declare a state of emergency after a series of watermain breaks. They now fear the catastrophic collapse of their drinking water infrastructure, which of course would put them in a very tenuous situation when it comes to supporting the port operations and the residents who call that place home. We were thrilled to see the B.C. government come in to the tune of $65 million, which is part of the cost of addressing the immediate needs of the community in their water crisis.
Now, I asked you a question about this in the House of Commons on March 7. I was really pleased that you ended your response by saying you “hope to have good news soon.” I wonder if you could start by talking about what that good news might look like from a federal perspective and what “soon” might mean.