Hello. Thank you very much for the opportunity to present today.
My name is Tristan Goodman. I'm the president and CEO of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, which represents independent oil and gas producers across this country.
First, I certainly recognize that, like other sectors, subsidies, incentives and supports to aid emissions reduction in the Canadian natural gas and oil sector is not without controversy and historical application. As Canada and the rest of the world grapples with the critical issues of accelerating the application of clean technology and renewables, an emerging crisis of energy affordability and the obvious issue of energy security, we face the need for a pragmatic approach to energy subsidies that supports all Canadians and our values and climate ambitions.
I should start by saying that the Canadian oil and gas sector is not seeking government subsidies that promote oil and gas exploration. Although these subsidies may have been common decades ago—for example, in the development in the 1970s of the oil sands—they are now a vestige of history. With a well-established sector such as we have in Canada, they are generally not needed. However, similar to other sectors in our country, we are interested in implementing climate ambitions in Canada rather than in other jurisdictions, and thus need to remain competitive with other nations and attract significant investment capital into this country.
The Government of Canada has implemented a series of globally leading GHG reduction policies that address the climate challenge and are successful in reducing emissions at scale, including from the oil and natural gas industry. We support the Government of Canada's stated goal of tackling climate emissions rather than considerations of production.
Similar to other sectors in Canada, programs are required to help mitigate the costs of critical but challenging government policies to ensure that oil and gas development occurs here in this country, while it is still needed, with strong regulatory standards rather than simply shifting production to other jurisdictions that lack real climate expertise and ambition.
The use of tax policies and the creation of such market mechanisms as a robust carbon offset market can go a long way to addressing these competitiveness challenges. Designed correctly, these types of tax and fiscal policies can be meaningful and effective mechanisms to reduce emissions in combination with a robust regulatory regime, which is now in place. Furthermore, these policies create substantive economic value in the country in the clean-tech sector, creating jobs and developing technologies with export potential.
I believe it is an error to classify as a fossil fuel subsidy government initiatives that support Canadian companies in implementing clean technology that reduces emissions through hydrogen development, geothermal, CCUS, methane capture, wind, solar and other innovations.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions.