Welcome to Drumbeats, the must -listen -to podcast
which explains why Indigenous partnerships are
the key to securing successful outcomes in natural
resource and infrastructure investment in Canada.
I'm Mark McNacca. Today on Drumbeats, my co -host
Rob Brant and I are joined by Alex Fallon, CEO
of Birch Narrows Denny Nation Development Incorporated,
who are leading one of the most interesting economic
development opportunities in Saskatchewan's resource
sector. Alex brings a national and an international
perspective to the table. He's the founder and
chair of the Western Canada Economic Forum, and
for 14 years has served as British Honorary Consul
to Saskatchewan, helping to connect capital trade
and opportunity between Indigenous nations and
international markets. In this episode... You'll
hear how Indigenous nations are securing early
-stage economic positions in critical minerals,
using nation -owned corporations to build lasting
prosperity, preparing for opportunities in uranium,
small modular reactors, and energy projects that
could reshape Western Canada's economy for generations.
Preparing for opportunities in uranium, small
modular reactors, and energy projects that could
reshape Western Canada's economy for generations.
This conversation serves as a roadmap for Indigenous
communities to build capacity, launch nation
-owned businesses, and prepare to become long
-term equity partners, not just observers, in
significant projects. Let's get started. Welcome
to our podcast, Alex Fallon, CEO of the Birch
and Arrows Denny Nation Development Incorporated.
Great to have you on the show. Thanks, Mark.
Great to be here today. Hi, Alex. Great to see
you again. Thanks for taking the time. Hey, Rob.
You too. Nice to see you again. Alex, you wear
a number of hats. So why don't for our viewers
in the UK who might recognize an accent hidden
deep in there in your Canadian accent, tell us
a bit about yourself, your background and how
you've got to where you are today, because you've
been over in Canada for a number of years. but
also representing the UK and now Indigenous nations.
Yeah, that's right. Thanks, Mark. You know, I
was looking forward to this podcast and our chat
because my kind of role and experience, I think,
fits very well with what you folks are doing
with the summit. So, yeah, I grew up in Saskatchewan,
so prairie boy at heart. But as a young guy,
about 13, 14, I moved to the UK. So in the UK,
I went to school in a sunny place called Sleaford,
Lincolnshire, if you know where that is. University
started working for the UK government, etc. Long
story short, moved back to Saskatchewan about
15 years ago. And during that time, through kind
of twists of fate, my role has been very much
in economic development in UK -Canada relations.
So as you mentioned, I'm the CEO of the BNDDI,
which is an Indigenous Economic Development Corp.
I'm also founder and chair of the Western Canada
Economic Forum, which gives me great insight
into all things Western Canada, resources, agriculture,
energy, and all that. And then about 14 years
ago, because I'm not busy enough, I had the good
fortune of being appointed as the British Honorary
Consul to Saskatchewan to help on that Saskatchewan
-UK relationships. So economic development of
First Nations, kind of the Western Canada. outlook
and knowledge and then the uk saskatchewan uh
relationship so all comes together uh in terms
of what i do on a day -to -day basis wow that
kind of follows the shifting of gravity of canada
as it's moved gradually to the west and the western
provinces have played an even in greater role
in confederation Yeah, agreed. I think, you know,
that whole natural resources sector across the
West and then with the ports, the logistics,
the infrastructure for that trade and exporting
to the world in BC, you know, Western Canada
is such an interesting kind of big market at
the moment, which is great. And Alex, this isn't
the first time you've worked with a First Nation,
but tell us a little bit about Birch Narrows
Dene Nation. Yeah, really opportunity. So I started
in this role probably just under a year ago.
And really interesting opportunity because Bursch
Narrows is a small community, small nation, north,
north, north Saskatchewan. Beautiful location
right by Turner Lake. And across the lake is
uranium mine being developed by NextGen, which
I'm sure you've heard of. So I think once it's
under... In operations, it'll be one of the,
well, maybe the largest uranium mine in Saskatchewan.
So you've got this small nation, about 800 members
in total, very remote North Saskatchewan, and
a huge opportunity for economic development with
the mine site being developed. And then you've
also got the Paladin mine site kind of further
down the road and Denison as well. So I saw it
as a great opportunity to kind of remain in the
Indigenous economic development space. But such
a unique opportunity for a small nation like
that to have what we call mutual benefit agreement
with such a large mining opportunity with NextGen.
And I've been enjoying trying to, you know, win
business, which is what it's all about, is get
involved in business and help the community grow
and look for employment opportunities. And before
we talk about what you've been doing with Birch
Narrows. Maybe talk a little bit about what you
did previous to that in the First Nation you
worked with in Saskatchewan. Yeah, so economic
development career really started. I was in private
industry with Cameco and other energy companies
before moving to the government of Saskatchewan
at the provincial level to do economic development.
And then moved to the city level to do municipal
economic development in Saskatoon. But then over
that kind of 10 -year period, just saw the emergence
of Indigenous economic development, economic
reconciliation, and just the uptake in business
opportunities in that space. So I think four
years ago, I had the opportunity to join Papika's
Cree Nation's economic development organization
called Sparrowhawk, lead that organization for
about two years. They've since moved that back
into the nation and then a bit focused on the
forum and now with Bursch and Arrow. So seeing
Indigenous economic development with two different
nations. Different locations, different sizes,
different issues and opportunities has been a
great experience and learning opportunity for
sure. And at Papik, if I got that right, you
were involved in a really interesting transaction
with Royal Helium. And it's a great example of
how we've seen Indigenous participation evolve
over the years into some really interesting.
more than just promises of jobs and maybe a royalty
stream. But tell us a little bit about that transaction
and why it's so unique. Yeah, so our work with
Royal Healing was really interesting. You know,
at Papixis, at Sparrowhawk, we looked at what
was going on in and around the traditional territory
of the nation. And one of those things was there
was huge land ownership from helium companies,
exploration companies looking to develop the
helium resource in Saskatchewan. Royal Helium
was an interesting opportunity because they were
at that time commissioning a helium plant in
Alberta. And actually during our discussions,
they actually moved into production. So which
was a huge achievement and did some exports to
the US. At the same time, they had some significant
land holdings in Saskatchewan, again, near the
nation. And we're like, this is a great opportunity
for us to be involved in the development of that
resource. So we worked with Royal Helium for
a long time, developed an MOU for an investment.
And we were looking at other government programs
that could support that investment. So for example,
there's the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment
Finance Corp that provided loan guarantees to
certain types of projects, especially in the
resource sector. Now, Royal Helium went through
some changes. I think there's been a change of
ownership. We never kind of finalized that investment.
But it was a good example of a First Nation looking
to get involved early in the critical mineral
space, work with a company, develop a framework
for a deal. and kind of be ready to move. Market
conditions and corporate restructuring kind of
prevented that. But it was such an interesting
process to get First Nations involved in that
opportunity. I think that just reinforces the
importance of Saskatchewan in terms of mining
and critical minerals across the board. And,
you know, it's one of the largest producers of
potash. uh in the world can you talk a little
bit about the Saskatchewan's critical mineral
strategy and the overall market yes Saskatchewan's
got such a unique uh natural resources uh history
and I hate to admit it but when I first moved
to the UK people would say where are you from
and you know for the first while I would say
Saskatoon Saskatchewan And they, you know, they
couldn't pronounce it. They'd never heard of
it. They didn't know where it was. And you kind
of got tired of trying to explain it, especially
in just informal, you know, chitchat. So I started
saying I'm from near Calgary because that was
just, that was terrible. My Saskatchewan friends
are going to think, not going to be happy with
that. But that was kind of, so this was, gosh,
1993, 92. So that time, yes, Saskatchewan wasn't
really talked about in the UK. And I say close
to Calgary, we're about a six hour drive from
there. So that gives you an indication of the
space. But, you know, the Saskatchewan story
really started with this bread basket of the
world concept, where we were the largest exporter
of wheat in the world. And that was kind of the
foundation of Saskatchewan. It wasn't until years
later, I think it was the 60s, but we should
fact check that, where Saskatchewan moved into
uranium production. You mentioned potash being
one of the world's largest exporters of potash,
producers of potash. And you had this agriculture,
mainly wheat, uranium, potash mix. But then from
there, it's really developed the agricultural
resources. breadbasket of the world, I view very
much as a global grocery store, where we've got
the wheat, but it's lentils, peas, canola, mustard,
flax seeds, etc. So that agriculture sector is
just enormous. Uranium, potash, you know, foundations
to the economy, but now critical minerals. And
so looking to develop those minerals in Saskatchewan
like helium. It's kind of, I think, an evolution
for the Saskatchewan economy. And that's why
I think it's such an exciting point because it's
growing our products, so to speak, and getting
those to the world and getting global investors
involved in this opportunity. Yes. And so when
you speak about that, just thank you for providing
the background. And I'm sure besides not knowing
where Saskatchewan is, but it's in the center
of the country, I think, just slightly west of
center. that's manitoba uh but i guess in saskatchewan
when you go when you see the highway saying north
it has a different sensation because i always
laugh at my friends here when you leave london
and you're heading north there's a big sign in
the north and you drive you know five hours and
you're there right exactly i family and i did
a road trip from saskatoon to vancouver over
the summer and it was about 18 hours And that
was just Saskatchewan, Alberta. That's just going
west. That's just going west. So just huge. And
that, I think, speaks to the resource opportunity,
just the land mass. I think Saskatchewan has
about 40 % of Canada's arable farmland. But then
the challenges of transport logistics, remote
mining, huge farms, northern conditions, minus
30 weather, all those things. So very unique.
um place in the economy yes and also the percentage
of indigenous people in the province is i think
one of the highest if not the highest in the
country yeah correct good point you know the
entire province of saskatchewan which i think
is about the size of germany france but huge
uh current population is only 1 .2 million so
i don't i don't know how many neighborhoods of
london that would be but You know, it's a fraction
the size of the city of London. In this entire
province, spread across two major cities, Regina
and Saskatchewan, and then big rural communities
as well. So, again, that makes it a unique place
and, you know, challenges as well in terms of
the workforce available. But on the Indigenous
side, you're right, Mark, I mean, large Indigenous
population and specifically in terms of youth.
So over the next 10, 15 years, that's going to
grow. And, you know, that's why employment for
First Nations communities is so important because
it's the future, it's the present and also the
future of Saskatchewan in terms of demographics.
Yeah, it is more ingrained Indigenous participation
in the economy in Saskatchewan is more ingrained
and there's a longer history of. Things like
partnerships and meaningful involvement and Indigenous
-owned businesses doing some pretty amazing things.
What are you working on at Birch Narrows that's
interesting? Yeah, so at the moment, I mentioned
we have this mutual benefit agreement, partnership
agreement with NextGen. So we've already started
doing some work with NextGen, which is fantastic.
I have a couple of contracts with them to provide
services at the mine site. So we're doing some
work around waste management and also security
and electrical. It's a great starting point,
absolutely. But when you look at the NextGen
site, I think it's... They mentioned a $2 billion
project, $2 billion investment, probably increasing
since I looked. You know, and they've made a
commitment to spend a certain percentage with
Indigenous nations and organizations. So that's,
you know, for a nation like Burjaneros, that's
a $100 million -ish opportunity. And so I would
say we're at the start. Electrical, some waste
management, security. But it's like the sky's
the limit in terms of what areas we can get involved
in. You know, there's shaft sinking and the underground
mining and environmental monitoring and things
like that to be done. So we're really focusing
on that in the process of finalizing an MBA with
Paladin, was the fission organization. So obviously
that uranium mining sector is huge for us, huge
opportunity for us, the next gen Paladin. You've
got Denison down the way as well. At the same
time, we've all seen commodity markets go up
and down and nuclear industry uranium is on a
growth stage at the moment. But there's that
risk that at some point something could happen,
the price could drop, those mines slowed down.
And so because of that, we started looking at
other opportunities as well, kind of outside
the mining sector. So I think it's important
to, you know, our focus, priority, absolutely,
is the resource sector in northern Saskatchewan.
You know, commodities go up and down, and it's
looking at what else we can do. And so that's
exciting because you can do a little bit of both.
Yes. And what about the transition in terms of
your current role and what you've done in the
past up to now? And all of a sudden, the world
changed at the beginning of this year, right?
Our southern neighbor became unstable, to say
the least, changed their priorities. Building
Canada Act, Prime Minister Carney won the election,
got his mandate, trying to speed things up. How
does the work you're doing fit in terms of some
of these bigger projects that are going on? Because
this is a sizable investment you're talking about.
Yes, good point, Mark. The US has always been
Saskatchewan's leading customer and market. I
think it will remain that way because it's just
such a huge trading relationship. But kind of
that instability, maybe, or uncertainty, kind
of the changes you mentioned, have, and I think
this is a good thing, kind of accelerated Saskatchewan's
need to diversify its markets. And to be fair
to the government of Saskatchewan, they had already
started this, recognized this and started this
process over the last several years. So you've
seen Saskatchewan open up international trade
offices. The UK office opened years ago, but
not decades. Yes, and have done very well at
raising the profile of Saskatchewan. Having that
person in market, in office, every day, meeting
with investors and partners is huge. You see
Saskatchewan put offices in Asia, India, and
kind of across the world. So it's fortunate they've
started that journey, diversified markets. Number
one customer is the U .S. So that's interesting
because it's starting to make the First Nations
think about exporting products to the world,
not just to the U .S. Hear, hear to that, Alex.
And as Mark and you have said, Saskatchewan during
my time in London was always visible. Premier
has visited the office, the trade office. And
participating in things like our summit last
year, a big delegation from Saskatchewan. Yeah.
And lots of international trade possibilities
opening up more and more all the time. Do you
see international investors outside North America
taking a new, renewed interest in Canada and
Saskatchewan? In particular? Yeah, definitely.
And you mentioned that, and time flies. I remember,
I'm sure he wasn't the first premier to visit
the UK, but I remember my first international
mission with the Saskatchewan government to the
UK with former Premier Brad Wall. And gosh, that
would have been 2012 -ish, I think, maybe 2011.
Yeah, he spoke to the Canada -UK Chamber of Commerce.
That's right. Yeah, that's right. That's probably
where we first met. And Nigel and the team there,
you know, did a great job. And, you know, we
had a great turnout. And, you know, I think that
was the first time a lot of people in the audience
heard the story about Saskatchewan. And since
then, you've mentioned the work the current government
of Saskatchewan has done, Premier Mo, the UK
office. So, yeah, now people have heard the story
once, they're hearing it again. And now they've
kind of moved from the thought process of like,
oh, wow, interesting to hear that. And now they're
like, oh, this is an opportunity. And how do
we invest? So I think that kind of education
and knowledge and interest journey has happened.
And now we're moving to kind of investment discussions.
And I saw the great delegation of Indigenous
leaders that went to the summit in London. And,
you know, when I first saw that, I was like,
what? And I was like, wow. That's amazing. Some
of the most significant leaders in Indigenous
economic development in Saskatchewan go into
the UK to talk about investments to a large UK
and international audience. And now we're like,
okay, 10 years ago, never would have happened.
It wasn't even being talked about. And if you'd
said 10 years ago, you're going to the UK to
talk to investors as an Indigenous economic development
organization, people would be like, what? What?
Why are you doing that? We don't even have our
first investment in Saskatchewan. We're working
on our first couple. International markets, UK
large investors, Saskatchewan, indigenous. You
wouldn't have believed it if someone told me
this 15 years ago. So when the summit came along
and you see that delegation, it was just like
a perfect kind of picture of how things have
changed. And I'm working on some things that
touch on Saskatchewan that had their genesis
at the summit. So yeah, that delegation, those
folks are believers in the value of outreach
across the Atlantic. Exactly. And I've seen this
with the Western Canada Economic Forum too, where
you start the first couple of years and you have
this, you know, these delegations come. Imagine
it in five years or 10 years. You know, I think
the summit is going to be the stage where deals
are getting announced, investments are getting
announced, and more and more people are going
to be interested. So it's exciting to see how
you've gone from, you know, there wasn't a summit
back in my day to this summit gets pulled together.
First year was great. It's gone like this. And
it's like, okay, you know, our strategic plan,
what does that look like for five years now for
a nation like Birch Narrows to be on that international
stage? So it's exciting to see what, yeah, it's
exciting. Great. Thank you for that. Just to
come back, as your Royal British Honorary Consul,
what's the perspective now when you're talking
to guests from the UK, potential investors, they're
coming to Saskatchewan, how do they perceive
Canada post -Brexit? Yeah, you know, it's the
old story about Saskatchewan kind of being the
place investors, international visitors fly over.
They traditionally did these delegations, investor
groups, probably fly into Toronto or Ottawa,
you know, look at some opportunities there. And
they would, you know, the stereotype is fly to
Calgary, bypassing Saskatchewan. So that definitely
happened a lot, especially 10, 15, 20 years ago.
And I think that was still the case when I started
in the honorary consul role. And part of their
role was to help the UK government on that trade
and investment relationship. Great consul general
office in Calgary, managing Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta. And I think now what you're seeing
is investors are coming to the West. And so they
might still start off in Toronto. But they will
look at the West and it'll be Saskatchewan, maybe
a night or two in Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton,
and then maybe finish in BC. So it's gone from,
you know, kind of investors, I think, thinking
of the opportunity as provincial, going to energy,
we're going to the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary
and we'll find home. And now they're like, huh,
you know, let's go to Saskatchewan and talk about
oil and gas because we have a good energy sector.
Let's look at other investment opportunities.
and maybe leave from Vancouver. So in my time
as honorary consul, I've definitely seen the
shift of, you know, trying to get investors here.
And now they're coming on their own and they're
making a couple of stops in Canada, which I think
is great because to me, the opportunity, you
know, should never just be provincial, right?
We're going to do investments in business in
Alberta. It's like, well, you know, you kind
of erase these. provincial borders and there's
business opportunities across Canada, but across
the West, especially in the energy, natural resources
sector. So that's been a huge change that you
can see on these delegations. And what about
the perspective of working through environmental
legislation at the federal level and provincial
level? Have you started to see some changes on
that under Prime Minister Carney's leadership?
Are they pushing it down more to the provincial
level or what's going on with that regard? Yeah,
I think, you know, Carney's made some good, you
know, announcements and commitments and maybe
trying to shift the culture a little bit around
that approval process because you do have that
unique situation of that, you know, provincial
jurisdiction and then the national, I guess,
oversight or another approval process to go through.
So, you know, too early to say what will happen,
but... The hope is that streamlines the regulatory
process, gives investors certainty and speeds
up, you know, in an environmentally conscious
way, the development of the resource opportunities.
There have been some concrete steps on that.
Absolutely. Just in the last few weeks. And I
can't remember whether Saskatchewan is part of
it or not. I'm sure they'll become part of it
if not yet. But Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario have
all signed. agreements with the feds where the
federal government is going to relinquish and
delegate some of its authorities to the provinces
to reduce duplication and hopefully speed up
some of these timelines for major projects. Yeah,
absolutely right. Good point. And I think every
year the Fraser Institute, one of the leading
think tanks in Canada, does their i forget the
exact title of the report but it's kind of like
top investment jurisdictions in the world for
natural resources and saskatchewan always ranks
as far as i can remember kind of you know one
to four and often at the top of that so you know
that speaks to yes there's that environmental
framework but the overall kind of stability and
then the regulatory environment is still you
know world class and if we can speed that up
a little bit that's great i know kind of from
a burst narrows angle that you know there's nothing
um more important than the environmental uh regulations
around these mine sites especially in beautiful
natural kind of untouched places like northern
saskatchewan just building on that coming back
to your role also as chair and founder of the
western canada economic forum what do you see
as the overall And what are some of the key issues
members of the forum are talking about with you
and other supporters of the forum? Yeah, I think
the way I look at it is each of the provinces,
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, each of
those provinces have different opportunities
and challenges. And I'll speak to those in a
second. But then when you zoom out and look at
it as a Western Canadian market and put all that
together, it's like, Wow. Then you're really
talking about all those key sectors. And I think
you look at Manitoba, strong manufacturing sector.
It's been a transport and logistics hub with
Centerport and access to the U .S. market. I
think for Manitoba, there's a defense opportunity
now with the federal government moving in or
trying to accelerate investment into the defense
sector. Manitoba is well positioned. for that
with the strong manufacturing sector, transport
logistics. Also that Arctic Gateway opportunity,
the Port of Churchill, we talked about diversifying
trade markets, getting these Western Canadian
commodities to market, having another port would
obviously help that. Then I've mentioned Saskatchewan
agriculture, mining, you've got obviously Alberta
oil and gas, BC ag products and so on. So I think
You know, they're unique, but I think for investors
to think of it as one market and expanding into
Canada, into the West, so much potential. And
all of that, you know, small population. And
so we need more investors. We need talent. We
need supply chain companies. We need companies
coming here and setting up. And, you know, that's
the opportunity is the investment, but also being.
part of the opportunity in terms of having offices
and being here in the business as well. Maybe
talk a little bit about the forum. What's in
store for 2026? Yeah, you know, it's really about
this uncertainty with the U .S. and how that
impacts it and kind of everything we've talked
about. So that will be a big focus. I'm looking
forward to hearing Premier Canoe speak about
the opportunity for Manitoba. They just, I think,
two months ago, released a new economic growth
strategy. And also, you know, hearing from some
of the business associations. So I think one
really. insightful one will be a talk from what
is called the Western Business Coalition, which
is a partnership between the Business Council
of BC, Business Council of Alberta, the SAS Chamber,
and the Business Council of Manitoba. They've
really started working together around this,
how do you use natural resources to drive Canadian
and Western Canadian prosperity? And that's the
unique thing about the forum. Traditionally,
there's been a Saskatchewan Economic Outlook
event, Saskatchewan speakers, Saskatchewan story
to a Saskatchewan audience, and a lot of them
know each other. And that's great. You absolutely
need that. But when you, again, zoom out, have
that Western discussion, and you have BC coming
to the West, to Manitoba, to talk about their
economic opportunity, that's that education we
need and kind of the mindset of multiple opportunities
across the provinces. You don't just need to
invest in one. When is the forum in 2026? Yeah,
coming up January 22nd and 23rd in Manitoba.
You know, we started the forum in Calgary. This
year we're in Regina. Next year, Winnipeg. And
similar to the summit, the kind of attention
and speakers and audience is just growing each
year. So, yeah, it's been an exciting ride and
hard work, as you know. Yes, absolutely. Alex,
at last year's summit, there was the beginning
of this discussion about the nuclear opportunity
in Saskatchewan. Can you give us an update on
what you're hearing at the moment in Saskatchewan
in terms of that opportunity that faces? Not
in the province, but the country. Yeah, good
point, Mark. I think that nuclear file is one
of the most exciting kind of new opportunities
in Saskatchewan for partners and investors. So
again, going back years, it was uranium exports.
We weren't doing much value added in the province.
If any, it was all about exporting to other facilities,
other markets. Now, you know, that nuclear discussion
has started. The opportunity for SMRs in Saskatchewan,
I think, is huge for remote communities, even
for the municipal population. And that one's
going to be international partners. Saskatchewan
is not a nuclear powerhouse at the moment. Obviously,
Canada has a strong nuclear sector, specifically
in Ontario. So seeing these partnerships with
companies like Bruce Power, Ontario Power Generation
is huge. And an indication of that is a few months
ago, the Canadian Nuclear Association held the
first, I think, I'm pretty sure, Canadian Nuclear
Association West Conference. And it was hundreds
of delegations. And that just speaks to the seriousness
of this opportunity in Saskatchewan. Government
has made it clear that, you know, we're going
to move down the nuclear path, going to look
at SMRs, maybe larger scale in the future. And
that's absolutely newish, recent policy direction
opportunity. So getting the supply chain ready
for that. And there's an opportunity there for
the UK in terms of the nuclear industry and experience
you have is huge. What partnerships exist there
on the investment side, kind of the technology,
the infrastructure. Opportunity is huge as well.
So that's another exciting one, which years ago,
we wouldn't have been talking about that. And
so that's a real emerging opportunity, absolutely.
And would some of that power that would be generated
also be flowing across provincial borders? Yeah.
From what you've heard? I think the possibility
is there for sure. I know that happens in a lot
of provinces with different energy producers.
So, you know, that would be exciting to see that
happen. I think the first goal is kind of in
Saskatchewan, but absolutely, if that sector
grows and you can look at, again, that interprovincial
cooperation and trade and opportunity would be
fantastic. It's more markets for the provincial
producers. Yes, well, that will be amazing if
and when small modular reactors set up in Saskatchewan.
If you look at France today, and you compared
that in terms of landmass earlier, 70 % of power,
obviously a different population level, but I
think nearly 70 % of the power is nuclear generated.
And it just gives us stability. And from a geographic
perspective and stability, you can't ask for
a safer place in Canada. Besides Saskatchewan.
Exactly. And I think a lot of that uranium in
France for the nuclear fuel would have come from
Saskatchewan, right? A large percentage of it.
And so to see Saskatchewan kind of move down
the value chain to become a nuclear utility in
the future is a game changer. Wow. Really something.
Alex Fallon, it's great of you to take time.
It's been interesting talking to you, finding
out what's happening in Saskatchewan. I know
you've got our Canadian High Commissioner to
the UK returning to Saskatchewan. He has returned
to Saskatchewan and he's been a great friend
to First Nations and other Indigenous. people
as well. He was in his role in the UK. And I
know you'll do well to have him back in Saskatchewan.
But thanks for joining us today. Yeah, thanks
for having me. And I look forward to being in
London and attending the summit in a few months.
So hope to see you there. Great. And thank you,
Alex. Look forward to seeing you then. And all
this talk about Saskatchewan reminds me I've
got to get on the call again to Manitoba, where
I was born and say, come on, guys. Saskatchewan
is telling their story very, very well. And as
you said, there are huge opportunities for all
the Western provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
Alberta, and of course, British Columbia. So
thank you very much for your time today, Alex.
It's been great to have you with us. Thank you.
Thank you to Alex Fallon for sharing his insights
with us. And thank you for viewing and listening.
Mark your calendars for the upcoming 2026 Summit
taking place on the 8th of April. Be sure to
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