Natural Resources committee  I couldn't agree with that more. Having done a regulatory pathway on fish habitat with a one-size-fits-all approach, it's no different from first nations consultation. It won't work. I think government needs to build a framework and a path that enables industry, local communities, and aboriginal groups to come up with solutions inside some defined boundaries.

Natural Resources committee  Yes.

Natural Resources committee  We made the mess.

Natural Resources committee  The same reason.

Natural Resources committee  Yes. Thank you for that opportunity. The issue of air is getting most of the airtime these days, pardon the pun. We're spending a lot of money to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, nickel emissions, and CEPA-toxic metals. With less contaminants going into the air environment, that creates the opportunity for us to do a lot of work on soil and water in the Sudbury basin.

Natural Resources committee  Now there's a leading question. I would say that if your minister is speaking with our CEO this week, that demonstrates a commitment to sitting down and having a dialogue. I'm aware of many conversations that have taken place with the Thompson community, the government at the municipal level, and the government at the provincial level in which we have again and again reiterated our commitment to maintaining value-added jobs in the city of Thompson.

Natural Resources committee  I would say the two considerations are inextricably linked. When a company decides that it wants to spend significant dollars, particularly in a global economy that's a little bit uncertain at the moment, we require a regulatory framework that provides some certainty of compliance now and compliance in the future.

Natural Resources committee  I would say in answer to your first question, to give credit where credit is due, Canada ranks relatively well in terms of government and regulatory frameworks around the world. We have a stable political framework. We're going into countries in Africa. It's a lot more unstable there.

Natural Resources committee  Our operations have had tremendous success with aboriginal development, most specifically so with our impact and benefit agreement in Voisey's Bay. Fifty-five per cent of our employees there are from the Innu and Inuit first nations. Many millions of dollars go to their communities for providing services to our operations.

Natural Resources committee  I'll take that one. We have a very specific example at our Voisey's Bay operation. For the first time we have just promoted an Inuit individual to the level of manager. We specifically target these people for outside-work-hours education in our Voisey's operation. That's one of the things we're doing to ensure that people aren't relegated to lower-level positions just because of their social status.

Natural Resources committee  I personally believe that NGOs are an important part of the process. They bring a sense of independence and a different lens on the assessment, permitting, and regulatory approval processes. We spend a lot of time with NGOs. We have formal what we call “kick the tires” tours so that people like Mr.

Natural Resources committee  I completely agree with that. We view environmental performance and environmental responsibility as a key competitive advantage. It's one of the reasons for a $2 billion spend on an environmental project. We report out against the Global Reporting Initiative—a GRI index specifically designed to report apples-to-apples comparisons on environmental performance against major industry players.

Natural Resources committee  I would say we're highly committed, and that's not just lip service. In Thompson, regrettably we did have to announce the closure of the smelter and the nickel refinery, in no small part because the feed from our Voisey's Bay operation was going to be processed at our Long Harbour hydromet plant.

Natural Resources committee  The thing I would close on is that our economic development working group is specifically aimed at ensuring jobs are created in Thompson for years to come.

Natural Resources committee  The only thing I would offer is that it's an issue for us as well, most acutely in our Thompson operations, where we've announced a shutdown of the smelter refinery. We're chronically 12% short of staff there. We've launched what we call a “grow our own” project that is specifically targeted at aboriginal people and youth and women—untapped potential of approximately, we estimate, 35,000 people.