I would like to refute what was said about the Mackenzie hearings. If you look at the record closely, you'll find it was industry that caused most of the delays, especially in the last process. Imperial Oil was unable to provide the proper information in a timely way. It repeatedly asked for recesses, which resulted in a four-year process. That resulted in the last decision. That decision resulted in about 100 or so recommendations to make the project better, which would actually help those in the local communities looking for employment.
I totally disagree that this is always about the bureaucracy causing the delay. A lot of the time the delay is the direct result of the proponents being late, slow, inaccurate, and not doing their homework. If Imperial Oil had arrived at the beginning of those hearings with a full proposal and all the details, it wouldn't have taken four years.
In fact, I remember complaining that before Imperial Oil even announced they were going through with the project, 16 jurisdictions in Alberta and the Northwest Territories came together and said, “We'll have a joint system. You'll only have to go through one jurisdiction, even though 16 jurisdictions have authority here.” So the regulatory process actually came together to make it as smooth as possible for Imperial Oil. To sit here and state that somehow it got in the way of a good decision is absolutely not true.