Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, and thank you.
We had Shell in earlier--we had a number of players in this morning--and as a corporation, Shell's goal is to maximize profits. Whether it's in the terminal or in refining, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter to us either, and we shouldn't be judging it. They're looking for results for their shareholders--good results. That's business. There's nothing wrong with that. That's part of a healthy business.
As elected officials, on the other hand, it's our responsibility to ensure that capacity, or supply, is there for the country. We want to make sure that there is that supply there. Right now we're talking about 13% of our eastern refining disappearing. It's gone. It's not being shifted somewhere else. Well, it's being shifted somewhere else; we're relying on another country to supply it.
Now, when we look at production in the United States, it's somewhat stalled. They have an economic downturn. We're okay right now--we can get it from them--but it's going to turn around at some point. They're going to use up the supply. That causes me concern. When the economy picks up, demand for U.S. oil and products that are byproducts of oil are going to be sucked up somewhere, and we're going to have a problem. Supply is not guaranteed for Canadians. If it's supplied on the ground here, we have some control of it.
I know that people say that the free market will take of everything, and supply and demand will drive up the price, but when you can't get the product....
I come from northern Ontario. Heating oil is very essential. When you're in northern Canada, heating oil is an essential service, something that we should be protecting nationally. I'm not hearing that right now.
Maybe we're talking to the wrong people. I'm really not sure whether we're dealing with the right people. I would think that the Competition Bureau would be the group that would look at that.
So the question is very simple: are we speaking to the right people? We're seeing competition, but it's more on a macro level. Are you the right ones we should be speaking to?