It’s good to engage with my brother in the House. I completely agree, and I think the Minister of Mines would agree also, how important it is that we do proper Indigenous consultation—I don’t have that exact definition here in front of me.

I was wondering if the member could comment for a moment on how important it is that we share the wealth of the land with Indigenous peoples and how important it is that we work together for the long-term prosperity—not just for Ontario; indeed, for the entire world—with the resource extraction that we can do up north and what that could potentially do for the Indigenous territories in his riding.

It has been interesting listening to debate. I haven’t heard a lot of negatives from the opposition—other than the need for good consultation. I know we have a strong commitment from our minister in order to make sure that happens, and I understand those concerns completely.

When this came, we saw the opposition supporting this on a voice vote on second reading. Of course, it went to a full vote. I believe this legislation will be coming up for a vote, if not today, in the next couple of days.

I was wondering if I could ask the member from Algoma–Manitoulin, knowing the importance of the benefits that this can have for Indigenous peoples across the province of Ontario, if he will be voting in favour of the legislation when it comes for a vote.

I rise to speak to third reading of Bill 71. I want to begin by saying the climate crisis is here: people in Alberta right now, the tragic wildfires they’re facing, the flooding we’re seeing once again in the Ottawa Valley, and so many other ways around the world. We know that mining is going to play a critical role as we electrify transportation, ramp up renewable energy and electrify home heating.

For over a decade now, I’ve been calling for a mining-to-manufacturing strategy to be able to make Ontario a leader in the new climate economy. We’re playing catch-up now. Other jurisdictions are ahead of us. We’re finally starting to see some investment in electric vehicles, and that’s absolutely welcome. We are going to have to mine the minerals that are going to be a part of those supply chains, but we’re going to need to do it right.

I voted in favour of this bill at second reading, hoping it would go to committee and be amended in some ways that address some, I think, important concerns that people have brought forward, one of which is defining what a qualified person is in addressing potential conflicts of interest in approving closure plans for mines. That would be a way to expedite the mining approval process while addressing legitimate concerns people have around the independence of oversight of mine closures.

I also talked about the need to make mine rehabilitation—to leave it better than it was in the past, which just seems to only make sense. When I go camping with my daughter every summer. I always say, “We’ve got to clean this campsite up and leave it better than we found it.” I think we can ask mining companies to do the same. Unfortunately, those amendments were voted down by the government.

But I think the issue that concerns me the most about where this bill sits right now is the concerns that have been raised by Indigenous leaders. The Matawa Chiefs Council has said that they believe this bill is exploitive and aggressive and runs contrary to the principles of reconciliation and the spirit of Treaty 9. The Chiefs of Ontario support them.

I would like to reach out to the government members, in the very limited time I have, in the interests of non-partisanship, and say: I want more mining in the north. I want that mining to be done faster, but it also has to be done within the spirit of reconciliation, where we have free, informed and prior consent from Indigenous nations. I believe the government should address that before moving forward with the bill.

From a broader perspective, I would say one of the things I’ve learned in this House over the past five years of being an MPP is that I think the province needs a consultation framework for how Indigenous consultation is going to work in this province, because in the absence of that, there’s a lot of confusion around what is meaningful consultation.