Okay. I had better speed up a little bit.
Another example is our buyers, who are consolidating rapidly, and in order to service such buyers, our industry needs economies of scale in production, services, and supply in order to be their preferred suppliers.
There are a few other priorities for us in terms of the business climate. One of these is further competition in Canada's rail sector in order to bring down rates and improve services. Renewable energy in this sector provides the opportunity for a win-win-win on the economic, the environmental, and the social fronts. Our industry has the capacity to generate a tremendous amount of renewable energy. We already generate enough green energy to power the city of Vancouver, and we could do more. A national renewable energy strategy would provide benefits, both in terms of reducing dependence on fossil fuels--clean air--and also by incenting long-term new capital investments in communities across the country.
Finally, the government can partner with industry on transformative R and D to create new leading-edge products and processes and to diversify Canada's export markets into more non-traditional geographic end uses. My colleague Shawn Dolan, from the CWC, will certainly discuss this further.
By taking action in these five priority areas, governments will help provide hosting conditions for the industry that will ensure its long-term competitiveness and that will support the industry's efforts for transformation to ensure that this industry will continue to remain a strong contributor to Canada's rural economy across the country.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my formal remarks. I look forward to exploring in further detail any issues of interest to the committee.