Mr. Speaker, the Cheviot coal mine in my riding is still waiting for an answer from the government with regard to environmental assessment. It has been waiting for five years.
It was approved in 1997. Appeal after appeal has delayed it, so much so that the buyers now have torn up their contracts and have gone elsewhere looking for coal. Twelve hundred jobs have been lost in my riding. It sets a bad precedence and puts a chill in Canadian development.
Will the minister today commit to the House that he will streamline the government's red tape before any more jobs are lost in Canada?