Mr. Speaker, recently I had the opportunity and privilege to both witness and speak at a celebration in Kitsumkalum, B.C., of people gathered together to honour the efforts of all northwesterners to stop a very bad idea.
When Shell first proposed to drill and frack for gas at the headwaters of the Stikine, the Skeena and the Nass Rivers, we had two choices: we could stand idly by or we could stand up. Stand up, we did. Community to community, first nations and non-first nations, environmental groups, hunters, fishermen and average everyday ordinary people stood together to say that we will defend what must be defended.
The Conservative government, from time to time, has taken to bullying and harassing those who happen to disagree with its view of the world, and there is a better answer to this. I offer to the Conservatives that there can be no progress without dialogue. When they include people in the conversation rather than shutting them out, people will unite. There is no greater value, as Canadians, than to stand up as citizens, shoulder to shoulder, and defend what must be defended.