Mr. Chairman, I am known as someone who says what he thinks. But I really get the impression that someone is pulling the wool over our heads today, because this just makes no sense.
We are being told that there was a desire to sell a refinery which, in reality, was so obsolete that it was worth no more than a scrap yard, and yet you were asking for between $150 million and $200 million for it. Montreal deserves more than to just be a parking lot for gas. Is that clear? That's the major point.
There are no refineries being built elsewhere. Basically you are telling us that you intend to dispose of your current stock and that we will just be at the mercy… Furthermore, now it will be tankers coming in. Shall we talk about the environment? You aren't even capable of complying with Quebec's environmental regulations, given that you have had 25 offences in the last several years. And yet you are here telling us that there is nothing to worry about because tankers will be coming in, what's more, and we will be able to get supplies from the Gulf of Mexico. I guess you intend to work with BP; I can hardly wait to see that. Over there, you don't need to unload anymore; on the contrary, you fill up. All you have to do is scoop up the oil on the beach.
I find that completely unacceptable, Mr. Chairman.
I hope you have an open ticket, because I don't think we'll have finished with Shell today. If another committee meeting is needed, we will call one.
Mr. Oblath, I'm very pleased that you're here today, but I would like you to table your term sheet, because I don't understand. If you have to put forward another $600 million, and that infrastructure is totally wasted and you will let that infrastructure go...and now you're saying, well, we're still willing to sell. Okay. We'll have Delek tell us later on... Would you be ready to table that term sheet so that we can see what happened? That's the bottom line. It's not just an issue about what Delek offered you. It's what did you tell them? In the beginning we were talking about a bracket just to put up some money to buy the refinery, and now it's more and more. At the end of the day, we understand it's a total waste.
It's not very encouraging for the employees, but nor is it very encouraging in terms of our energy security. We will be dependent on the United States and others, in terms of supply, for the purposes of our own energy security. I can't wait to go to the Shell station at the end of my street and see that the cost of gas has gone up by 10¢ a litre because of our dependency on the United States. If something happens—such as a humanitarian mission, a war or whatever it may be—we will be dependent on another country. What does it mean to be a sovereign country, in your opinion?
It's not just a 25% shortfall in Quebec; it will be 13% all across Eastern Canada.
I am outraged by those kinds of comments. But none of this seems to really bother you, Mr. Houle. Not only that, but it's our fault, because we summoned you to appear at a committee meeting today, which meant that you didn't have time to apply for your permits. However, you did have time to file a motion for an injunction, for example, because you wanted to move ahead with the dismantling before obtaining the necessary permits.
Mr. Oblath, do you believe that Delek US has the capacity to run Shell's Montreal East refinery?