Thank you very much.
I think this is a really important question because when we had to rebuild trust in how we did environmental assessments, so sorely lost by the previous government, we needed to hear from Canadians because they had said they lost trust. We spent a lot of time with Canadians. We spent a lot of time with industry. We spent a lot of time with provinces and territories. I know the Government of Newfoundland was very interested in the role of the offshore petroleum boards. We also listened to environmentalists. We listened to all Canadians, and that started from the very beginning.
When we came into government, we knew it was important to do what we could to build a more robust system, so we brought in interim principles that increased indigenous consultation, ensured decisions were made on science, and that we looked at the emissions associated with projects. Then we had an expert panel. There were three other ministers involved. One other minister had an expert panel. There were two committees that were involved. There was a whole process there with thousands of consultations literally across the country. Then we brought this all together in a document, which we then consulted again.
I sat down with industry many times, including at tables that were organized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, in order to listen to them. I also did the same with environmentalists. I did the same with the provinces and territories, and we listened to indigenous peoples and worked very hard to design something that made sense. We know that competitiveness is hugely important, that goal of “one project, one assessment” is important, but it's also important to ensure that we can approve projects in a timely manner with a clear process and ensure that good projects go ahead.