Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for attending today.
Mr. Saul, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I have some questions for you today, as I am from Fort McMurray and am interested in the oil sands. I've seen the town of Forth McMurray grow from 1,500 people to about 130,000 today, including some 70,000 or 80,000 workers, some 35,000 of whom live in camps and work around the region, with some 120,000 jobs in Canada been created directly as a result, and about 250,000 by 2025. It's very important to me because it's important for the economy. Canada is in the number one position today, and I think most of that is because of the oil sands over the last few years—certainly based upon what the rest of our sectors have done.
I'm curious about the subsidies you talk about, because if I understand this issue correctly—and here I'm only talking about oil companies--the only subsidy that I'm aware of is the one that was brought in by the Liberal government in 1997-98, the subsidy called the accelerated capital cost allowance. That's the only subsidy I'm aware of. But my understanding of that particular subsidy, based on my background, is that it is to be phased out by 2014-15, as a result of the legislation our government brought in. In fact, that accelerated capital cost allowance only defers taxes, or the tax break the companies have, for some years. It allows them to depreciate more quickly so they can have more money to invest today so that they get better returns more quickly long term.
Is that fair to say, or is there some subsidy I'm not aware of?