Thank you.
What an absolutely fascinating day! We have learned a great deal and we have defined concepts because of our guests who have been excellent teachers and wonderful coaches.
What we have just heard about speculators could be very effective. There is something morally repugnant about the idea that speculators can fix the prices of essential commodities. We would not permit speculators to control or influence the price of vaccines or antibiotics. Things like that appall us.
But Mr. Sprott hit us over the head with a concept a few moments ago when he told us that Canada is richer because of current oil prices which are kept up by speculation on international markets. I now realize that there are two sides to the story. You can look at things from the point of view of the consumer, who will always say that things cost too much, or from the point of view of the producer, who will say that they do not cost enough.
If we believe that Canada can become an energy giant, we must include oil, but also electricity. In Quebec, there is a deeply held view that electricity must be as cheap as possible so that the people get the maximum benefit. As a result, there is less and less to export because we waste more and more.
If we tell ourselves that oil is always too expensive, it also means that the provinces of Canada that have oil will take in less and less revenue because the price is not allowed to rise. The collective wealth will be affected, with fatal results.
Madame Russell, you told us that those regulations against those scalpers have been made easier for them. Could you estimate what would be the price of oil if those regulations had not been modified?