Thank you.
Thank you to all of you for joining us today.
I have a few questions, primarily for Stewart.
It's good to see you again. Thank you for joining us.
Stewart, you were part of the generation energy consultation that this government undertook—the largest in its history—asking Canadians, businesses, sector experts and researchers about what Canada's energy future would look like. Where our opportunities were, in terms of innovation and technology, was a huge part of that conversation, and the $5-trillion economic opportunity that we could see as a country by 2030, if we want to be at the forefront. If we're not, we're not going to see the benefit of that opportunity to the degree that we can.
There are a couple of things that you mentioned. I want to talk about the comment you made around oil and gas subsidies and the bad rap, if you will, that they get.
Certainly, the work with the G20 in Argentina and those initiatives are under way and moving through the process. There is one thing we have to remember. You mentioned oil and gas subsidies and the ability for them to innovate. I just want the panel and the rest of my colleagues to know that in 2017, NRCan undertook some experiments with the broader oil and gas sector to reduce the environmental footprint of extraction from the oil sands. The results have been excellent. It uses far less clean water because boiler tubes are no longer needed. It reduces the environmental footprint, and nearly all greenhouse gas emissions are sequestered underground. Instead of wet waste-water tailings, they're actually dry, which are much easier to deal with. Part of these subsidies are pushing us to a much better place in terms of the extraction of those fuels.
You talked about the flow-through shares, as in mining. As you know, the government went from a one-year renewal that's been going on for well over a decade, to five years to provide stability and opportunity for investment. Can you talk about what that might mean to the sectors in terms of the innovation that you were referring to?