Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his impassioned comments about the great people of the province of Alberta. I know when Newfoundland and Labrador went through a similar existential crisis back in 1991, Alberta welcomed so many tens of thousands of Newfoundlanders and their families with open arms, who helped build the oil sands and have great jobs there. Many of them are now struggling, returning home to Newfoundland and Labrador looking for new employment.
Does the member not appreciate the value of our having approved pipelines that are going to employ 25,000 skilled labourers working in constructing these pipelines? Will he not at least acknowledge that these are steps in the right direction? Does he not agree that we need to get our resources to market? These jobs are going to be valuable. They are jobs in the very skilled trades that are being laid off in the oil sands at the present time.