Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. McCann, thanks for coming back before our committee.
Carbon pricing is a frequent guest of topic before this committee. Yes, it is true. The rationale is that you are trying to use a market-based mechanism to change behaviour. The other part of the argument is that, if the behaviour does change, you necessarily incur a lower cost.
In your opening statement, you were careful to point out to this committee that we shouldn't grab individual facets of information when we're talking about food price inflation. We have to look at it as a whole. On the topic of the carbon tax and fuel price volatility, in the previous panel, I was making mention of the fact that diesel fuel, in 2022, was priced as high as $2.30 a litre. It's now down to $1.70. We've seen worldwide massive fluctuations in energy prices, whether it be natural gas, propane, gasoline or diesel.
Can you put carbon pricing in the context of that volatility that exists out there and how important it is for us to keep that in mind and maybe also take into account that, since 2019, oil and gas profits have been substantial? A lot of that wealth seems to be flowing out to investors and paying out dividends rather than servicing the Canadian economy.