Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to speak briefly about this change. What it really does is ensure that our residents are not just informed but they actually have meaningful opportunities to participate in assessing the risks and benefits of resource development. It's important to note that we did include the words “hydraulic fracturing” in here. This is not to say that Members are necessarily in favour or against it. It's ensuring that our citizens have an opportunity to express their views and participate in assessments of that sort of activity if and when it is to take place. The other reason for including hydraulic fracturing in the motion is that this was a major piece of unfinished business from the last Assembly. There was quite a large consultation process to look at filing regulations for hydraulic fracturing and it essentially was left unfinished and left for this Assembly to try to deal with.

Certainly, this was a major issue that was raised during the election by a number of residents in my own riding. They felt that it was an unfinished piece of business. I think we need make sure that's something that's dealt with in this Assembly, to look at when and where and how and whether we actually carry out hydraulic fracturing. Those are some of the reasons for proposing this particular motion.