I'd simply like to react to the last comment that was made.
We've already talked about the need for the oil from the oil sands. Most of that oil is exported to the United States. Canada doesn't really need it for the moment. Furthermore, while we drain our oil reserves to export them to the United States, the Americans are consuming very little of their own oil. They'll probably be the last ones on the planet to have oil. They'll have gotten it everywhere in the world and we won't have any more.
Mr. Dykstra somewhat misrepresented my remarks about economic activity. I don't doubt that a lot of jobs depend on oil, but it's a matter of choice. Are we going to generate economic activity in the oil industry, or in the renewable energy industries?
Renewable energies will make it possible to create jobs and will create tax revenues for governments. That's the same thing; it's merely a choice. Should our fiscal policy encourage development of an industry that, by definition is ephemeral, since oil resources aren't eternal? Should we encourage the development of an extremely polluting economy? Should we instead take the government's same financial and fiscal resources and invest them in clean energies that will really structure our economy and permit longer-term development?
We've talked a lot about accelerated depreciation. In my opinion, we can't seriously continue to encourage the fastest possible development of petroleum energies. Perhaps we should also assess provincial government incentives. Discussions are currently taking place on equalization, to determine whether or not we should include non-renewable natural resources in calculating equalization. Of course, that's not out of the question. It's an encouragement for the provinces to develop this sector of the economy to the detriment of other sectors, such as the renewable energy sector.
Do you think we should include these calculations in equalization?