Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll address most of my questions to Mr. Darwall.
I believe that the academic evidence would show that Canada is facing a productivity crisis and an economic growth crisis. Over the last 10 years, our economic growth has been 0.8% per capita, and that's the lowest since the Great Depression. The reason for this is relatively clear and well known, although sometimes lacking media attention. I believe we lack for capital investment. We don't have a framework that's workable with respect to innovation. Quite frankly, despite having the hardest-working, smartest people in the world here in Canada, we are lacking for productivity
The Canadian energy sector has a GDP per capita 10 times that of our average, and I have yet to see, and would love for any one of you to table what the GDP per capita is in the green industry, because I suspect it's far less than in the energy sector.
Mr. Darwall, I thought you spoke very intelligently when you talked about the difference between reducing supply and reducing demand. If in fact we reduce supply dramatically and cap it artificially through government regulation or otherwise, it's my heartfelt belief that this will hurt Canadians who are the most vulnerable. We've seen the impact over the last eight years of these Liberal economic policies, which have doubled the number of people at food banks and created an affordability crisis, the likes of which we have not seen for decades.
Mr. Darwall, whether we want to make the transition or not is another discussion, but don't you believe that this transition, if not done eloquently and over a sufficient amount of time, could have a significant impact on our productivity and our GDP per capita, worsening an already precarious situation?