Thank you very much.
First of all, the position we've taken for a long while is that we hope both the provincial and the federal governments push that national Canadian energy strategy over the goal line. I think it is logical to have governments working together to harness all of our assets in all of our regions and have that blueprint going forward.
Second, I think that strategy would imply a greater degree of coordination. For example, as I said in my remarks, when it comes to regulatory frameworks, we find it dangerously heavy right now. It does affect competitiveness, particularly when you have a government in the United States that is shaving regulatory overhang at a record rate.
I'm not suggesting that we need to follow suit on every aspect. I'm not suggesting that we slash and burn our regulations. We recognize the need for regulatory frameworks for our industry, and we recognize that regulations serve societal goals as initiated by governments. However, the fact of the matter is that we are really experiencing a cumulative regulatory pancaking that no one government, no level of government, is responsible or accountable for.
We've asked that the annual meeting of mines and energy ministers address that. It would be a perfect and legitimate forum for this. As Tim mentioned, every level of government is concerned only with its own respective layer of pancake regulations, but we need to get the whole cumulative aspect right because our industry is asked to eat and pay for each of these pancakes, and then we pass that on to the consumer. A strategy would also inherently make co-operation a priority and, therefore, coherent.
On electrification, I would start, as we suggested to the minister and in this presentation, by beginning the process of having an electrification strategy. We all talk about the need. The Conference Board has some big numbers for what we would need for the electricity sector, but we need to have a national strategy, if you will, which again puts the onus on the federal government to also include provincial and territorial governments. We suggest that we fund that development so that, again, we can all play a part, including having the confidence of Canadians and industry.
But we have to start with a plan, and until we have a plan, the talk is going to be disjointed and, therefore, ineffective.