Natural Resources committee  No, it's a work-in-progress. There are some critical goals in there. The pieces around what you could call the social and cultural pieces need to be embedded. A lot of it is pretty loosely defined. We don't know where that's going to end up. That's our challenge. If we stay only on the physical and environmental pieces and we don't have a mechanism for that, we're going to be banging our heads into the wall.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. Sometimes we are first to look at what we don't do well, but I think we do a number of things well. In terms of land rights, it's hard to find another country in which you have stronger land rights than you do in Canada. To go back to your earlier question on the evolution of the different land claims agreements and settlements, you start from the Alaska model, which was also kind of instructive for James Bay to a certain degree, and the lessons from there.

Natural Resources committee  Okay.

Natural Resources committee  To take the electricity one, here's a slam dunk that we should be looking at as a country. Look at the Northwest Territories and the intertie to Saskatchewan into northern Manitoba. In terms of a nation-building project to move electrons around, that's something we ought to do that would benefit northern communities.

Natural Resources committee  A hundred per cent.

Natural Resources committee  No, I know. Again, with the duty to consult, there's a misconception that it gives an automatic veto. It doesn't. Of course, there are thresholds in proximity communities. Impacts and all those things get taken into account. But I will tell you this: If we're going to do this successfully, there are two things here.

Natural Resources committee  That's a very good question. I'll defer to Alaska first.

Natural Resources committee  Okay. Last point. What can we do? There are about two billion people on this planet who....around 1.3 billion who don't have electricity, and another billion or so we've tied to grids or are islanded. Imagine economies of scope: Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Greenland working together building an export market, building off economies of scope, that's indigenous-led.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very kindly for having us in on this obviously very important topic to our country, but also to our neighbouring countries in the circumpolar north. And a hello to my colleague from Alaska, where I did my Fulbright. Folks in Alaska really treated me well, so I have a very fond affection for Alaska.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, exactly, though I could canoe here.