Mr. Speaker, over the past 20 years, I have helped develop processes to deal with aboriginal rights and title honourably on the part of the Crown and first nations, respectively. It took years of trial and error, but it is what enabled projects like LNG Canada to be approved and bring peace to the forests in B.C.
Today, the Liberal government is disregarding and frustrating what was already a good process that met the needs of first nations and non-first nations alike. Offering to do consultations by Zoom is demeaning to first nations. The idea that the Liberal government will start consultations once an application is made is an insult. It ignores all the best practices already laid out in other projects. Consultations should have started eight months ago.
The flip-flopping of statements to first nations is not honourable. The messaging to first nations from the Liberal government changes every day and is confusing to Canadians, who deserve leadership in the face of U.S. tariffs.