Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being with us this evening.
I really appreciate your taking the time to meet with me and the mayor of Prince Rupert to discuss his city's infrastructure challenges. I know you're aware of the specific challenge that city faces: mainly, the aging condition of their drinking water infrastructure, especially their water mains. The fact is that last Christmas they had to declare a local state of emergency due to several water main breaks. In fact, officials fear the catastrophic failure of the entire system if something isn't done as soon as possible.
The province has come in with an investment of $65 million to help fix the problem, and the city has applied to the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund for a similar-sized contribution from your government.
I know that ministers don't typically make funding announcements at committee meetings, but I wonder if you could share with the committee and with me your government's posture on the project, how you understand the problem and what's at stake in Prince Rupert.