Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to start with the Business Council. Talking about foreign investment, I come from Calgary, Alberta. We are known for energy. We've seen a $50-billion drop in energy investment since 2014, which is a 62% drop in investment. That's not just due to a drop in oil prices. That includes the new methane regulations being brought in by the government, the LMR rules brought in by the provincial government, higher taxes, and the carbon tax that is being imposed. If you look at just energy in Alberta, you'll see that it is equivalent to 75% of all your manufacturing in Ontario, and it's basically an entire aerospace industry in Quebec. Anywhere else, this would be called a national crisis, but because it's in Alberta, no one really seems to be bothered with it.
The biggest impact I see in the communities I represent is in terms of women and STEM, and you have it here in your submission. For a generation, we've been convincing young people and young women to go into STEM, to get an engineering degree, a science degree, or a technical degree. They've joined these workplaces. They're typically the people with the least amount of experience in the workplace. They're the new ones. They've redirected themselves into this field. They're superintelligent and super-smart. They have the go-getter attitude that most Albertans have, but now they're in an industry that the federal government and many provincial governments are obstructing at every single step of the way.
You talk about foreign investment fleeing the country. I've seen it in my community, with 110,000 direct and indirect jobs lost, just gone, especially in communities like mine, suburban Calgary. For the Business Council, when you're talking about STEM and women involved in STEM, what else are you suggesting should be done beyond just this PromoScience program, where the federal government has targeted interventions? I'm seeing these women unemployed in my community. I have example after example. They have five, 10, and 15 years' experience. They're great engineers. They used to lead entire teams. All those people are gone. All the drafters are gone. Everybody is gone.
What else is there that the government could be doing for energy, but specifically for women in energy? A lot of them are exactly there in STEM-related professions and occupations.