Thank you for the warm welcome, Mr. Chair, even though it's only virtual.
Chair, it's a pleasure and an honour to be here, and I thank you for the invitation.
I'm going to keep my comments very brief. The issue of fossil fuels is indeed vast, as is the issue of climate change. Selecting one area in terms of subsidies brings about some interesting points and commentary, which I'm pleased to answer on as well as I can.
However, to my way of thinking—and we've heard this from previous witnesses—deferred taxes are not in fact a subsidy. In fact, if you look at the actual amount of subsidy, it may very well be negligible. Certainly, in the case of energy subsidies, which I think the committee's now realizing are extraordinarily difficult to define and to measure, it actually has little to do with costs directly from government.
Much is made of subsidies to oil and gas, and while there are some, no industry invests, in my view, more of its own dollars in innovation in Canada than the oil and gas sector does. The value it delivers is profound across society, across the country and, principally, in driving energy prices lower for consumers. It is the single biggest benefit for society's well-being. Without affordable energy our society will be plunged into profound difficulties. Those are the kinds of difficulties that have been expressed by previous witnesses here, which we're seeing every day now in the United Kingdom, Germany and the entire European Union.
A government that's committed to net zero and a just transition is a government determined to undermine affordability, a government determined to subsidize more, not less, at huge costs to society. Net-zero policies are destroying the U.K.'s economy. A just transition is about more government intervention, not less, and with it more economic dislocation for all.
Thank you for having heard me out and I'm now ready to answer your questions.