Mr. Chair, in the private sector, I had the opportunity to build many projects with indigenous communities. The observation that I have is that when consultation is done well, it accelerates projects; it does not slow projects down.
The company that I used to be involved with, Hydro One, was building more transmission lines in the province of Ontario than any other jurisdiction in North America. That was happening because of consultation and economic reconciliation, not in spite of it. The company was building projects and getting them done ahead of schedule and under budget because first nations wanted to partner with the company.
Our bill is designed to make sure indigenous communities are part of the solution. By doing that, we would accelerate projects and get them done more quickly and more economically.