Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for being here, and also thank you for using video conferencing. It does protect the environment when we take these efforts, and you don't suffer from jet lag, so thanks for the efforts in that respect.
I personally have visited the oil sands twice, once from the Athabasca River and the other time last year was with the committee. From the river I saw the natural leaching of bitumen into the watercourses. And then the primary focus on our second visit with the committee was actually on site at the oil sands, and I think each of us saw something different from what we expected.
Reclamation is important to me, and we did see some reclamation. In fact there was an area where buffalo had been reintroduced in a reclaimed area. We saw surface mining, and we also saw examples of in situ. We heard from witnesses in Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan, and Calgary and Edmonton, so it was actually a very informative hearing from first nations, industry, scientists. And unfortunately Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bigras chose not to be part of that, but I think it was very beneficial for everyone who attended.
I'm going to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, on April 7--