Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I think my colleagues have decided that I'm the one who should talk here today because of being northern development critic and a resident in the Northwest Territories. It's easy for me to talk about this subject and I'm pleased to do so.
In reality, right now, the 44,000 people in the Northwest Territories are using 10% of the pellet supply in Canada. If this becomes a trend across northern Canada where there are many more people than that who don't have access to natural gas services, would you say that the opportunities for the market for pellets in Canada, with the price of fuel oil what it is...? The BTU cost of pellets versus fuel oil is almost double. Fuel is almost double for BTU of the cost of pellets and they're very similar in terms of the way that they can be automated.
Do you see that there could arise a problem in the future where we need to develop these northern sources of pellets to ensure that we have a reliable supply? That's to the Northwest Territories.