Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague can rest assured that his riding of Cariboo—Prince George is very similar to my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac. They are very rural, resource-dependent, agriculture-dependent ridings that rely on the hard work of everyday Canadians. I can assure him that the investments we are making in infrastructure, clean technology, innovation, and skills and training will help businesses transition towards a cleaner, greener economy and to take advantage of the market opportunities we are already creating.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that in 2013, it was actually the opposition member's party that killed the Rural Secretariat, an organization that was dedicated to rural Canada. That was an organization that was put forward, with the best of intentions, to help grow the rural economy and recognize Canadians from rural areas from coast to coast to coast.
I would also be remiss if I did not mention that we are making progress. We are working on softwood lumber, another issue, by the way, that was left out in the cold by his government when it left office. The Conservatives failed to restart negotiations with our U.S. counterparts, and because of that delay, we are caught in the circumstance we are in today. We have not been able to make the significant move forward on softwood lumber we should have had by this point, because the conversation a year ago had not been started, which is very unfortunate.
Last, I would like to take one moment to speak about pipelines and resource development projects. Last week we approved the Line 3 expansion and TMX. Those are two projects that will help rural economies in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, workers from my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, and other ridings across Atlantic Canada that rely on the natural resource sectors, especially oil and gas, to take advantage of opportunities around the world.