Perhaps I can pick up on something else first and then come back to that.
Of course, everything is interconnected. Mr. Cardin has just shown that by going around the table once, each member was able to propose some important topics for discussion. As a rule, the various topics of discussion proposed are tied to our interests or responsibilities. However, do they constitute a sound basis for a working agenda for the committee?
With respect to going forward on the briefings, I agree with your view, Mr. Chairman, that it's important for us to get to a certain level of understanding before we dive into details about specific challenges. I'd like to see the department officials not only come and talk to us about the mandate of the department, with which we presumably are most centrally preoccupied, but also just remind us very quickly about the constitutional division of responsibilities and powers with respect to natural resources. I'd like to see them speak to the sustainable development aspects of their responsibilities, as they cut across all the natural resource sectors.
I like the idea of the Energy Dialogue Group, but the challenge with the Energy Dialogue Group in isolation is that it is a purely industrial grouping. It does not bring in either consumer views or environmental views. I think we can buttress that and get a more wholesome view.
I'd like to see us start with the department and perhaps put the question to the department officials--as well as the minister, in due course--and anybody who would appear before us as witnesses on what are the salient questions they believe we should be addressing in this committee. What do they believe? These are full-time actors in the natural resource sector. They are the ones who probably know best. Is it a fiscal issue from a mining perspective. Is it a technological and scientific issue from an oil and gas perspective? Is it a regulatory issue from an environmental perspective, or ecological integrity?
I would rather see us flip it a little bit on its head, Mr. Chairman, and ask those who are appearing before us if they can help us think through what the salient questions might be. Of course, we'll ultimately go to the minister and ask the minister what his plans are and what his government's plans are in this regard. Is there some meat and potato that can be dropped on the table here?
Perhaps as soon as this Thursday we could have the departmental officials here to give us what I know already exists inside that large department. The work has been done. I'm sure it's been done for transition. I'm sure it's been done for the government and so on. I don't see why they couldn't come on Thursday and bring us up to speed just generally on questions. How big is this? What part of the GDP is it? Who's responsible for what under the Constitution?