 Good to be back here again after a little break as we've been out on the road for our weekly press conferences. I know it's not always easy to attend these when we're in different parts of the state. So we thought it would be a good idea to have one in the pavilion so more could call in if they wanted to. I, uh, I wanted to spend a few minutes today highlighting the trip we took to Montreal last week, which was my eighth official visit to Canada as governor. My team and I met with many businesses and government officials to help strengthen relationships and continue to look for opportunities to grow each other, other's economies. Now, there are many states who have offices in Washington to keep a finger on the pulse of what's happening at the federal level. Vermont does not. In fact, I don't believe we've ever had an office outside our borders. That is until now with our first in Montreal, which we opened last year. Canada and Quebec in particular is that important to us. And while it was there, we met with CEDA, the team we've contracted with to help connect us with more companies who have an interest in having a footprint in the United States. And through this work, we have many examples of the benefits for both regions when we work together. We believe our Montreal based office will start more conversations, open more doors and lead to more opportunities to build on the Quebec, Vermont relationship. In fact, if you look at our history between Quebec and Vermont, it's fair to say that while we may be separated by a border or bound by our family connections, shared cultural roots and many common values and interests. This includes economic ties. With $5 billion in trade, Quebec is Vermont's largest international trading partner. And we're Quebec's second largest economic partner in New England. But our connection goes beyond just trade because we also build things together. Something I can appreciate is someone who owned a construction business for 35 years. About half of all trade with Canada takes place between related companies. Businesses big and small have built supply chains in aerospace, IT, construction materials and more. In parts, raw materials and natural resources like logs and lumber frequently go back and forth across the border multiple times before a final product rolls off the assembly line. This also creates shops with about one third of the workforce in the Northeast relying in some way on the relationship with Canada. In Vermont, 73 Canadian-owned businesses employed nearly 3,000 people as of 2021. And let's not forget that tourism also plays an important role. Before the pandemic, Vermont welcomed more than 2 million Canadians every year, adding more than 200 million a year to our economy. And based on the positive reception and feedback we received last week, I believe we can expand those numbers in the future. We also discuss other opportunities where we can work together, like combating climate change. As you know, Vermont purchases a lot of our electricity from carbon-free Quebec sources. We've also created an EV charging corridor, which will help support Quebec and Vermont's transition to EVs. And we're leading by example, making sure our state vehicle fleet is at least 50% hybrid or fully electric. In just last week, we announced up there, as a matter of fact, we purchased four new electric buses from a Quebec company. The first they'd sold in the US. Canadian-owned businesses employed nearly 3,000 people as of 2021. And let's not forget that tourism also plays an important role. Before the pandemic, Vermont welcomed more than 2 million Canadians every year, adding more than 200 million a year to our economy. And based on the positive reception and feedback we received last week, I believe we can expand those numbers in the future. We also discuss other opportunities where we can work together, like combating climate change. As you know, Vermont purchases a lot of our electricity from carbon-free Quebec sources. We've also created an EV charging corridor, which will help support Quebec and Vermont's transition to EVs. And we're leading by example, making sure our state vehicle fleet is at least 50% hybrid or fully electric. In just last week, we announced up there, as a matter of fact, we purchased four new electric buses from a Quebec company. The first they'd sold in the US. The other focal point of our trip was due to the Aero Montreal exhibition being held last week. For years, we've been focused on the critical Northeast Aerospace Corridor. And with a lot of help from the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, we now have a $2 billion aerospace and aviation industry. This corridor and the supply chain is created are vital to our economies with more opportunities on the horizon. To put this in perspective, Quebec's is almost $14 billion. The bottom line is this was a very positive trip after a long absence due to the pandemic. And we thought it was important to take up where we left off with our neighbors to the north. Secretary Curley and Commissioner Goldstein were also on the trip and we'll have more to say about the opportunities ahead of us. Secretary Curley. Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. Last week's trip to Montreal to attend the Aerospace Innovation Forum operated by Aero Montreal and the concurrent trade mission served as a great opportunity to finally connect with Canadian companies and government officials that we have only been able to engage with virtually over the past few years. Relationships matter. Being able to meet face to face with our neighbors to the north feels incredibly important in our quest to strengthen our trade and rebuild the tourism business that we lost due to COVID. The two day trade mission where I joined the Governor, Deputy Secretary Brooks and Commissioner Goldstein was packed with a variety of opportunities to learn about innovative international companies who have an interest in entering into or bolstering their US market presence. We also had an opportunity to visit the trade floor at the Aerospace Innovation Forum and conduct some meetings on site and help support Vermont companies looking to deepen their connections with the Canadian market. There's a lot of potential to expand economic opportunities between Vermont and Canada, especially within the aerospace industry. Vermont businesses, along with our team from the agency and our international trade partners, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and US commercial services held over 50 meetings with international companies in the aerospace and aviation sector. Vermont businesses in attendance included Dynapower, GS Precision, Common, Liquid Measurement Systems, North Country Engineering, Stevens Precision, Tenfold Engineering and Beta Technology. Meetings with Canadian companies looking to grow into the US market reinforced that Vermont is an attractive destination. Our proximity to the border and ease of access to Montreal continue to be great assets to Vermont as we work to attract these companies. And that access will only get easier as Auto Route 35, which replaces the old secondary route, is built out with plans to eventually intersect directly with I-89. As the governor mentioned, we have our first ever office outside of Vermont. We connected with the team in that office to hear about the work they are doing to continue to attract companies who may have an interest in Vermont as well as we met with the mayor's office to make introductions and to let them know that we have set up shop and look forward to strengthening our economic ties and hope to raise our profile as tourism destination for Canadians. The governor also mentioned combating climate change. Hydro-Quebec provides a considerable amount of renewable energy to our state. That is why we also met with Hydro-Quebec representatives during our visit. A strong relationship is important for our future success in that area. As we continue to work to grow our economy and attract more workers, the events we attended in Montreal give us hope that the future is bright with our neighbors. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development remains committed to furthering that work in the years ahead. Overall, we feel like the trip was an incredible success. We know there is so much work to do, and we feel this was a great opportunity for us to reset our efforts by making ourselves accessible to government and business officials in Canada. I'll now turn it over to Commissioner Goldstein so she can share her perspective of the trip with you. Commissioner. Thanks, Secretary, and thanks, Governor. Canada's impact on the Vermont economy is very well established and of great importance to our state. Vermont exported to be specific, exported $830 million in goods to Canada in 2021. And Vermont sells more goods to Canada than to its next three largest foreign markets and combined. That's Taiwan, China, and South Korea. So we can't overstate how important of a market this is, and it's why we spend more time there than any other foreign market. Vermont also received over $2 billion worth of imports from Canada, and importantly over 70% of those exports are in raw materials, as the governor was saying, raw materials, parts, and components used to create other goods made in the U.S. So we know how important this market is and why we're happy to be meeting with our new companies and other innovators who could expand into our state. And why is Vermont a contender? Vermont is a contender, really, the proximity, right? And we've got quite a few subcontractors in the aerospace industry, particularly, so that other aerospace-related companies, if they want a foothold in the U.S., will consider Vermont. Our in-market trade representative in Canada, as the governor said, the first of its kind is called SIDEP, that's CIDEP, and so it establishes our presence, which is invaluable. We needed to meet with various people. They were able to set that up. Any of our Vermont companies who need to meet with other trade-related contacts within Canada, within Quebec particularly, they will set it up. So it's been a very, very good result, and that came about as a result of the 2021 legislative session, is where we received the appropriation to set that up. They're hard at work to get us more companies who are looking to grow, and currently we have a pipeline of about seven companies from Canada that are looking to locate. And competition is fierce. They're looking at New York, they're looking at New Hampshire, so we need to be present. I could say that the businesses from Vermont that were up there were so impressed that the governor actually spent time up there at the booth with them, was able to meet with the ambassador. One of the smaller businesses said to us, they expressed to the Canadian ambassador how Vermont's help to small business is so invaluable to them, part of our grant process is to help them pay for presence at trade shows, such as the one we attended. And that's part of our Vermont State Trade Expansion Program, which we call STEP. It's a U.S. Small Business Administration grant. And we were just told that we received another $249,000 to continue this great work to help small businesses expand their presence overseas or to the Canadian market. We could pay for everything from export training and compliance, foreign trade missions, trade shows, and developing company websites and advertising to help them in various different languages. So it's an invaluable resource I know by comparison with the numbers that we hear from all the other grant funds coming seem small, but that small bit of help is sometimes the determining factor of whether a small business will export or not. So as we look to the future, we want to continue to encourage Canadian companies to invest here in Vermont and provide Vermont companies with the tools to ensure they're able to explore exporting their products. It is a unique opportunity in relationship that can help enhance our communities and continue to heighten Vermont's reputation as a great place to live, work, and play as we recruit not just companies, but individuals to come to work for us. Thank you. With that, we'll open up to questions. Let's start with folks in the room. As the commissioner just mentioned that we're also competing with New York. They also had a presence at the show too. Given that electricity is cheaper there, and they also give tax breaks for manufacturers, how can we compete with that? Difficult. I met with one company who I'd met with at least two times previously and they're looking to expand into the US and they're looking at Oklahoma. And it's because of the tax advantages in Oklahoma and a lot of other advantages as well. But they love Vermont. They have a special affection I think for Vermont. Many have recreated here, maybe even had second homes here, and really appreciate the culture, the proximity, and as close as it is to drive. So it's difficult in terms of New York and competing with them, but we do have Vermont Chamber of Commerce has done a great job over the last number of years really focusing on this corridor in Vermont as part of that. So there are a number of other businesses here, as I said before, that are in the aerospace industry and they like to align themselves with one another and stay with the supply chain. So again, it's difficult because they have a lot to offer. Obviously with a lot of runway space and warehouse space and so forth, it's difficult. That's why we fought so hard to keep beta in Vermont because they could have gone anywhere they wanted. Yeah, just as the governor said, it is difficult, but that's why we can't take anything for granted. And our presence was very large for being such a small state. I know that you were there and could see the size of our booth and the size of our contingent. So I think for a small state, we punch over our weight. We also want these Canadian companies to know that we do have incentive programs and we need to continue to support that and support the training programs that we have and support the introductions that we could make amongst other companies. And again, the governor having a presence there really matters on many markets. I mean, New York, they're not going to get that type of access. And so some have even gone so far as to say that. So we were small, but we try. The appropriation was for $300,000 and I believe our contract with them was for half of that. We're going to see how they do and if they're able to present and produce for us, then we could continue it to spend the rest. And how many high quality leads have they generated and how many investment projects have come to fruition because of that? So it is a long term effort and we just hired them the end of last year. So the seven prospects that we have are very quality leads. So far, there has not been one that has opened up just yet. It is a long term courting, if you will. Governor, are there any projects in the works at say the three northern airports that besides BTV to build out and possibly attract these investors? Yeah, everyone I spoke to has an interest in some of the other airports as well, whether it be Highgate, Newport and even NAP here in Berlin. So there are opportunities, as you know, in Highgate in particular. We're expanding the runway, widening, lengthening and bringing water and sewer infrastructure into the airport, which is going to make a big difference. Some of the challenges, they're very aggressive. They want to move quickly. They'd like to have the warehouse space if they're going to move. They want to have it this year and we just don't have all the space that can accommodate some of them. So we're going to have to look at different strategies in order to accomplish this mission. But again, whether it's Newport or Highgate with the expanded runways, I think there's an opportunity there. And they have an interest because again, like when I was speaking to the president of the company who's thinking about Oklahoma and all the tax advantages and so forth there, what he was attracted to was that he could drive from Montreal and be in touch with his workforce and really oversee that. In Oklahoma, you'd have to jump through a few hoops to get there. That could take a day or two. And if there's a problem at their warehouse or manufacturing facility, they could get here quickly in a matter of an hour or two. Is the perception out there, there was a perception out there that Vermont wasn't necessarily the most friendly place to bring a business in, that it takes too long to develop permits, all of that stuff. Have we overcome that or are we working to overcome that? Well, it certainly has been one of our initiatives over the last six years to try and do whatever we can to expedite the permitting process. Unfortunately, we haven't gained much ground with the legislature, but we keep hoping maybe in the next legislative session, if I'm successful in November, we'll go back at it. And so we're trying to do whatever we can to work with developers to see what space they might have available and keep it as flexible as possible. So I think the perception has changed in some ways and certainly as Commissioner Goldstein has said, I don't know of any other governors who were there. I don't know of any other governors who spoke directly with the CEOs and presidents of these manufacturers. And that goes a long way. So relationships matter, it mattered to me, but they matter to them as well as part of our culture. And I think it's going to make a big difference. Bring this up again, it comes up every single press conference, but housing is obviously a major issue. So when we're talking about recruiting businesses here, I mean, where would workers live to be blunt? Well, again, I mean, we are building as we speak. We started this five or six years ago when I came into office, as I have said multiple times, we have that $37 million housing investment. We thought that was the biggest thing. And it was the biggest initiative for mothers ever seen. And now we've been able to convince the legislature that $250 million, a quarter of that, of the billion dollars that were being appropriated will go to housing as well, along with water and sewer infrastructure, which is desperately needed to go in conjunction with that. So we're getting there, but it's going to take a little time. And it is a concern when you're bringing in, and that's the beauty in some of this is that they aren't bringing their workers in typically. They're looking for workers here. And if we get into regions like in Newport area, Franklin County area and Highgate, hopefully we'll be able to hire more local. It all has to work together, but we can't give up on economic expansion. We simply can't because we'll be left behind in a matter of a few years if we don't continue to walk and chew gum at the same time. We're going to have to have the housing. We need to focus on that, but we can't give up on economic development. In terms of hiring local workers who already live here though, Vermont has a very low unemployment rate, so people already have jobs. Yeah, it depends where you are, obviously. And when you look at the more depressed areas, whether it be, and not everything is in the Northeast Kingdom, but if you look in the Northeast Kingdom, the unemployment rate is higher there. And so the Caledonia area, the Essex, Orleans area, Franklin County, upper parts of Franklin County, there are some opportunities there for more workers. Speaking of housing, some faith leaders got together in Montculier yesterday to articulate their severe concerns about the fakes of the 8,000 or so households that are going to be losing VRAB assistance starting December 1. And I'm wondering what reassurances that any you can offer people who are worried about this that people won't lose housing as a result of this transition? Yeah, I can understand that. But let's go back. Let's level-set this a bit. Pre-pandemic, we didn't have this program. This was something that was part of the congressional action with the Biden administration, Trump administration before, Biden administration now. This is temporary. This is emergency money to be allocated for emergency housing and housing in general. When they first initiated this, we had 90,000 people unemployed at the time. We were trying to find any way we could to keep them whole. And that's what this money did, was to keep people afloat. But the emergency is over and the money is drying up. This wasn't intended, wasn't the intention of Congress to have this go on in perpetuity. So this day is coming quicker than we had hoped, but at the same time everyone saw this coming. The other states are facing the same thing. It's not unique to Vermont. So we do still have our programs in place pre-pandemic. We want to make sure we're taking care of the most vulnerable. I might ask, I think Commissioner Hanford and Commissioner Brown are on the line now. Maybe they could comment further on how we're going to protect the most vulnerable when this money does run out. Hi, Governor. Commissioner Hanford here. You covered most of it quite well. This funding was temporary. It's a massive resource that we're fortunate to have. We have been able to run a robust program, I think longer than many states actually. This wind-down has been designed to try to help the most vulnerable get through the winter. And folks that have been able to use this assistance, they will be seeing their benefit if they're at higher income levels start to wind down over the next few months. At the same time, you addressed earlier, the real solution here is more housing, more options. If we had more supply, some of the costs wouldn't be rising as fast. And that work is underway. Those funds aren't running out. We have a few more years to spend that massive investment, including $250 million in ARPA, an additional general fund and property transfer tax funding. To date, there's been about 2,000 housing units created already, affordable housing units for the lowest income among us. And there's probably another 2,000 in the pipeline. And that doesn't count what's going on as market rate housing in addition to that. And, you know, one sign that the housing is being worked on, people who are building projects all over is if you look at the last three straight years, we've seen an uptick in our residential building permits. So that's a sign that we are building more. It's not enough and it's not fast enough. And I know there are people that are hurting and suffering because of lack of housing out there. But the system is trying to address it. Or Commissioner Brown gives his thoughts. I just wanted to, again, the reason some of the money was running out quicker than we had hoped is because the administration, and again, I'm not blaming the Biden administration, but they changed the rules to ramp it down quicker. They wanted to ramp this down quicker than originally thought. So the U.S. Treasury is the one that changed the rules and that's why we didn't foresee this. So, again, this was an emergency program with emergency funding that wasn't intended to go on in perpetuity. Mr. Brown? Yes. Thank you, Governor. Yes, and our program, the transitional housing program that is accessing those federal emergency rental assistance funds is anticipated to run through the end of March, through the end of, towards the end of the winter. In addition, we will also be operating our general assistance program that's still in existence and we will also be having our adverse weather policy in place this winter as well as an additional safety net. And so we believe the most vulnerable homeless households in the state will be protected in the coming months and through the winter. And also, we have expanded funding for support services. So for those households that might be losing their VRAP rental assistance, we do have services in place to assist them to access other existing programs to help them remain in their homes. And so we'll be working with our housing partners across the state to make sure that anyone who does experience an issue and that risk losing housing that we can support them and keep them housed so they don't experience homelessness. So there's a lot of work happening with our partners across the state to support these households. I think there are a number of people who are conflating the Motel Hotel program with the rental assistance and there are two separate programs. The Hotel Motel program is continuing. As well, I think that some people have said, well, why don't you just continue? You know, keep funding it. Well, it's millions and millions of dollars every single month and we simply just don't have the resource nor do I have the authority to do that. You picked up an endorsement for the Let's Grow Kids Action Network and they said the reason that they endorsed you is because you committed that no family will spend more than 10% of their income on childcare and I'm hoping you can just sort of elaborate or sort of articulate with precision what your commitment is as it relates to the amount of out-of-pocket money that their parents are going to spend on childcare. Well, first of all, I wasn't aware that I received their endorsement so thank you very much for breaking that news for me. The 10%, I'm not sure that I made that commitment. I think that that is a goal and it's something that we've been working on with that group since I became elected the first time. I think childcare is integral to economic development and providing for better Vermont and it's something we've been struggling with for quite some time. We had a number of initiatives where we had funding sources that the legislature didn't go along with that we wanted to go to early care and learning and to childcare in particular and we'll continue to work on that because I don't believe that the families can afford to spend more than that. So we obviously have to work with the legislature on this I think and we have to find a source to fund but something has to give because I'm not interested in raising another broad-based tax in order to do this. You signed into law the act that enshrines as a mandate that no parent shall spend more than 10% of its income on childcare but you're talking about that as a goal allowed? Well, again, it's something that we have to work out all the details on, right? I mean, it's not something that we can, we have a program that describes all that right now but it's something that is our goal. Will Vermont, do you believe Vermont will honor the commitment that was made in that once? I believe we can, yes. But we may have to, you know, if you only have a certain amount of money to use for this regard, you have to prioritize and we may have to live without something else in order to accomplish this but I think it's that important because if we don't, I mean, since day one I've been talking about our demographic crisis and we're getting older we have more retirees and this problem isn't getting any better. So we have to both attract more families into the state, more people into the state but also we have to grow our way through this in the long term so taking care of our kids and making sure families can afford this is important. And will your budget, last question on this, will your budget contain the funding necessary for Vermont to honor the statutory commitment that it made? We are building our budget as we speak so we'll see what happens to the member but we'll continue to build our budget and meet our commitments. I'll go back to your visit to Montreal for a second. I wasn't there but I read a brief that when a journalist asked you, you committed to sitting for a meeting with the Abenakis of Odenok can you tell me more about that with the nature that would be? Yeah, I mean, let me frame this a bit. I was at a luncheon. The keynote at a luncheon came out of the luncheon and the chief of the Abenaki tribe was there in the hallway serving us a letter providing for their discontent with what Vermont is done. And so they wanted me to meet with him right then. He had his own press team with him and I was having a press briefing right after that. So I said, like I say to most people in Vermont, I'm willing to listen but this was legislative action. It was taken when I was in the Senate on two separate occasions I believe and there was more legislative action taken recently. So we have committed to the Vermont Abenakis but I would say we should at least hear them out and also when I say we, it's going to take legislative action. I think legislators should listen as well. So I made a commitment that I would take it back to our schedule and see what I could set up and listen to what you have to say. Would you be willing to make that letter public? I don't see why not. I don't see why not. I wanted to shift gears just a little bit and ask about health care. As you probably have seen yesterday, regulators approved a 14% rate hike for UVM Medical Center. The hospital says that it's going to have a big impact on patient access to care. Consumer advocates say that some people might get priced out of the market. What do you make of the health care snafu that we're in right now? Well, again, due to the pandemic and the inflation and the increase in workforce, a cost. I understand the dilemma they're in. I believe they're asking for somewhere between 15 and 20%. I don't remember which, how much they were asking for. And I read one of the, I think it was a news story that said the Green Mountain Care Board slashed their ask. And I wouldn't say going from 20% or 18% to 15% is slashing. I think you also have to remember, and again, I'm not defending the Green Mountain Care Board. That's their job, their regulatory board, independent board that oversees the budgets of our hospitals. So they're doing, they have a lot more information than I do. But I do know we have forwarded disagreements to them. That was something new we've done recently. That was a lot of millions of dollars that we are releasing to help reduce that. I also know that there was 19 million, I believe, that was set aside for the mental health facility at CVMC. And they said, and the Green Mountain Care Board had reserved that earlier. And they said they could use that money to reduce rates. So it's not as though there's other money and there's other things in play here. And I don't know, again, all the details, but I'm sure the Green Mountain Care Board did their due diligence and thought this was the right approach. 167, I don't know, Secretary Samuelson on. Yeah, Deputy Todd, yeah. Yeah, under Act 167, the Agency of Human Services, along with the Green Mountain Care Board and the legislature, will engage with communities and look at global budgets and look at sort of hitting the reset button, if you will, on health care reform. I'm wondering if you've heard, if anything is underway, any meetings or any of that work is underway? It seems like constantly. But I'll let Todd answer that. Did you hear the question, Todd? I did. Thank you, Governor. Those meetings have begun. Certainly the coordination between the care board and the agency is underway. And we will begin continue coordinating and collaborating with the care board to carry out the purpose of the act, including further stakeholder engagement and broad public engagement. I wasn't sure if there was more to the question. Were you talking about the federal end as well? Yeah. Okay. Well, that's where I was confused, because we have constant meetings with the federal government on all the all-payer model and everything else that goes along with that. So we're fully engulfed in talks with them. This is the hospital's estate building. Yeah, okay. Yeah, thank you. Do you endorse Joe Benning to use your endorsement on all of them? Any. Yes. Do you have, will you be endorsing any other statewide or federal candidates for office? I'm not aware of any. We'll move to the phones now. Starting with Chris Roy, Newport Daily Express. Chris Roy. All right. We'll try Tom Davis, Compass Vermont. Hi, Jason. Thank you. Senator, you noticed recently that the state police has done a couple of saturation patrols on I-89 in Central Vermont somewhere in the area between Berlin and Brookfield. And the numbers are pretty alarming. I think the one that really stuck out was this last saturation patrol that took place on the 10th of September. 60% of those who were violating the speed limit were going over 90 miles an hour. Is there any appetite in this state to consider speed limiting cameras, the ticket automatically, which have been adopted in at least 16 other states? It has come up numerous times. But I don't believe there's an appetite with the legislature to do this at this point. I think one of our initiatives in the last year or two was to have to try this out, so to speak, a pilot program in some of the safety zones and use that type of process and not even ticket but send warnings. But that was turned down as well. So I don't believe there's an appetite for it, but I would agree. I mean, I'm out on the roads a lot now. And traffic speed has increased dramatically as has our deaths on the highway as well. So it's something, again, we're trying to refocus and we're trying to collaborate amongst different entities within state government to do everything we can to work together. I have to ask, how's your truck? Love my truck, our truck. It really is, it's amazing in a lot of respects. It has incredible torque, pickup. It's quiet and no complaints thus far. Appreciate it. That's all I've got. Thank you. Ed Barber, Newport Daily Express. Ed, I can see you on, but I think you're still on mute. Probably coming back to you in a minute, but we'll go to LD Reed, Vermont Public. Hi, Governor. I just wanted to go back for a minute to Odinac First Nation. I was curious how you envision your administration's relationship with them moving forward. And just in general, I'm wondering how you think state government should be interacting with sovereign indigenous nations whose land was never ceded? Well, again, we've had a great relationship, I believe, with Chief Stevens here in Vermont. And throughout the last 15 or 20 years, we've made steps in the right direction. And I think we just need to keep listening to one another and doing everything we can to help in any way we possibly can. So having that line of communication open, I think, is important. Can I just follow up and ask, at an UVM event this past spring, representatives from Odinac First Nation did make claims that folks who are leaders of Vermont state-recognized tribes, they claim that they are what they call pretendians or race shifters, white people who are taking on an indigenous identity. I'm just wondering what you have to say to that. Yeah, I mean, again, we've had this relationship with the Vermont Abonakis for decades. And I wouldn't say that they were opportunists. They are deeply committed to their beliefs. And I have no reason to suspect their imposters are fraud in any way. If I could just ask one last thing, I guess I'm just wondering who you think should get to decide or who to recognize indigenousity. You know, our state has a process, but those from Odinac would argue that their community or other Abonaki First Nations are the deciders of who is part of their community. Yeah, again, I don't have the answer to that. I know it's probably more of a legal question, legal technicality than I have any knowledge of. But we'll work our way through this. And again, we've had a great relationship with the Vermont Abonakis for decades and we'll continue to consult with them. Thank you. Guy Page, Vermont Daily Chronicle. Guy Page. Hello, Governor. We had you for a second. Hello, Governor. Yep, there we go. Okay. Thank you very much. Governor, by law, Vermont's committed to follow California emission standards and a rule to follow California's recent decision to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine cars by 2035 is now working its way through the interagency and legislative administrative rules process. Do you support Vermont banning the sale of new internal combustion engine cars in Vermont by 2035? Well, again, I'm a big proponent of electric vehicles, as has been stated. We've taken a number of steps forward in that area. I don't believe it's all going to be EVs in the future, by the way. I think hydrogen still has some promise and we'll see what happens in that regard in the future. But I do believe that we have to wean ourselves off from carbon emitting vehicles as soon as possible. I think the manufacturers need some guidance as well so that we're all on the same page in that regard. And so, Will, I know this process is open. The rulemaking process is open at this point. There'll be public comment and look forward to hearing what people have to say. But again, if you think about how far we've come, even over the last three years, I think by 2035, I don't believe the manufacturers are going to be building any internal combustion engines for, at least for passenger cars and light duty vehicles. But if they are, and people want to drive internal combustion cars, are you saying that's abandoned on the state level? I'm saying that I believe that the manufacturers are going to decide on their own. I think Ford has already decided this and I think General Motors is not far behind. So I think the major manufacturers have already set their course and this is something that makes sense in the future. Again, I think it's going to be much more affordable in the future for Vermonters and everyday people. So again, we'll have this comment period, see what the reaction is from Vermonters and then move forward from there. Governor, are you concerned that if we completely electrify transportation homes and everything else, if it's all electricity, if we were to have a blackout, our society would be in even deeper trouble. And if we add more energy diversity? Yeah, I mean, much like if there was a, all of a sudden the wells and gas supplies and fuel supplies were shut off, we would, at this point in time today, be in trouble. Same situation, only reversed. But I get your point and I am concerned about our grid, the capacity of our grid and the ability to produce enough renewable electricity to store it efficiently and distribute it from there. So we have a lot of work to do in terms of electrification. And that's why I said before, I'm not giving up on other sources, I'm not giving up on hydrogen either. I think hydrogen has a lot of promise and could be the other alternative fuel source. Okay, well, thank you very much. Ed, I think I see that you're unmuted now. Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to ask the governor, he mentioned the airport in Newport and the run night way being long enough for certain types of aircraft. Is the only issue with the new or the airport in Newport that they don't have enough warehouse space or are there other infrastructure issues that they would have to address? No, I think a lot of it is in terms of having space available at this point in time because these companies we spoke to, at least right now, are enthusiastic and interested in doing something sooner rather than later. So that's part of our issue. And I'm not, to be honest with you, Ed, I'm not sure about the water sewer and storm water infrastructure at the airport in Newport either. I just don't know. And maybe everything's fine in that regard, but that would be something that they would need. Permitting, you know, takes a while in Vermont as we've seen. And again, they're eager, eager to make a move in the foreseeable future. Okay, thank you. And Davis Vermont journal and Davis. All right, we'll go to Andrew McGregor Caldonian record. Yes, thanks. Good afternoon, Governor circling back to where you finished with guy in terms of the electrical grid, wondering if there's been any recent discussions of transmission line development in the state. And I'm thinking particularly of a corridor through the Northeast Kingdom that at one point several years ago was loaded as a possible alternative to the failed northern past project. Yeah, I'm guessing clean energy is going to be in high demand for years to come. Yes. I am. I'm looking forward to having a meeting with Valco and the not too distant future to talk about this because I think we all need to understand what the opportunities and the challenges are for us as we move forward with the electrification and making sure that we have the grid available to do this and the technology in terms of again, storing the electricity, whether it's, you know, smaller scale type of battery storage, micro grid, I think is what they call them. And I think that that could be the future as well, but we have to start playing this like now in order to accomplish this. We have I remember that that corridor you're speaking about. We also have the line that is all fully permitted through Lake Champlain. They can go to the lower part of the state and beyond. And I know that in speaking with other governors in New England, there's Northern Pass permitting failed. There's some challenges in Maine. I believe I don't know if they're going to get through that at this point, but but there's still issues. We still have opportunities here in Vermont. So we look forward to that. That was part of why I thought it was important to meet with the hierarchy at Hydro-Quebec and talk about making sure that we're we still have a good relationship with them. And we've had it for quite a number of years, decades since Howard Dean, I believe. Thank you. And not to make sure you pick up the focus of the conference, but what's the longest trip you've taken so far in that? We did go to, we went to Bennington. I would say that's the longest. I already knew this. US Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill today in the US Senate that would prohibit abortions past the point of 15 weeks gestation. It probably will not pass considering the current makeup of Congress, but do you have any comment on that? Again, I'm a proponent of Prop 5 and hopefully they will be able to have that pass and that'll be enshrined in our Constitution. And I don't believe that they have the votes to pass that in Congress. Do you think the government has any role in regulating abortion past the point of fetal viability? I personally believe that that's between a woman and her provider. And the story. Thank you. Have you towed the hauler with the trucker? Have not towed anything with the trucker. Just check it. I don't think they'll allow that. All right. Thank you all very much.