Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a gift; it is a tremendous gift that we have set before us, Mr. Speaker, and that is the decision of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline consortium to delay the start of the proposed gas pipeline.
Mr. Speaker, that is because we have at least two more years to work this project to get even greater advantage from it. Mr. Speaker, we have already invested amazing resources into aspects such as employment and literacy to enable our people to take the best advantage of the job opportunities that are going to come. We know that our infrastructure is lagging. We know we need to make more investment into the roads, schools, waters and the waste systems in our communities. We know that our social services need more development. The NGOs need more services and support so that they can be ready for the impacts this project is going to bring.
Mr. Speaker, this Assembly has given, in the past few weeks, tremendous attention to the environment. We have so much more that we can do to lessen the environmental impact of this mammoth project. The private sector can always use more time to arrange its investments and its infrastructure to take advantage of it. Mr. Speaker, now is the time to take advantage of the time to secure the $500 million socio-economic impact fund to have that delivered before this project gets started. Why should we be waiting for the NEB and Imperial Oil to decide on money that the federal government has already committed to us? It makes no sense to hold off on this commitment. As well, Mr. Speaker, we should be looking at expanding its application to other communities that surely will be affected by this mammoth project. The big prizes, Mr. Speaker, the ones we know we deserve, resource revolution...