Mr. Chair, it is a privilege to be able to join today's debate on the estimates and be able to put good questions on behalf of the good people of Kings—Hants to the Minister of Finance.
I want to start by saying, having served for seven years as a member of Parliament, I appreciate the work of the hon. member from Shawinigan. I appreciate his work in his capacity in a variety of files. I have had the chance to see his leadership first-hand.
I want to start by talking about renewable energy. In Nova Scotia, we have seen a tremendous and successful growth of wind power generation. This government has made important decisions around protecting Canada's steel industry, notably putting a surtax on fabricated wind towers that are generated outside of Canada. I know Marmen, for example, in Quebec is a great example of that leadership in Canadian fabricated wind towers.
I have had proponents in Nova Scotia come to me to talk about projects, particularly those that are already under construction or those that have a power purchase agreement. The ability to pivot at this point in the game is quite difficult. They are certainly looking at using Canadian supply chains now that we have the surtax in place.
I want to give compliments to the minister. We have a remission order for fabricated wind towers that were already under construction. Some proponents have suggested an ability to use proponents that already have a power purchase agreement would be a reasonable balancing to make sure that some of these projects can go forward. I know it is a difficult balance.
Is the minister aware of this? Is it something that he could at least consider in the days ahead?