: Your presentation was extremely clear. I read your slides, which had been translated into French, by the way.
Mr. Raymond, you might think I will ask you a fairly simplistic question, but it has been in my mind ever since we began studying the oil sands. Last week, or Tuesday of this week, we heard from a researcher who told us that the development and growth of oil sands exploration were so fast that innovation and technology could not keep up. Given that situation, even if we invested huge amounts of money into innovation and technology, these sectors still would not be able to keep up, and therefore contribute, through research, to decrease greenhouse gases. Several witnesses said that there should be a moratorium on oil sands exploration to allow research and innovation, as well as technology, to find ways to conduct exploration while decreasing greenhouse gases.
Since my election, I met many lobbyists, particularly those representing the science and technology sectors. Over the last nine months, I concluded that the current government does not seem to want to invest in science and technology or to acknowledge its importance. I read the Library of Parliament information notes, which point to a decline in research and development. In 1983, investments totalled $1.3 billion, whereas it was only $900 million in 2001.
If I was the CEO of a rich oil company and I was just interested in making as much money as quickly as possible, why would I want to decrease my profits by investing in greenhouse gas reduction technologies?
Unless I am mistaken, our system of research and innovation development is based on the funding received by industry. This industry is the oil industry, and its objective is to make a lot of profit, which is legitimate. These companies are not interested in doing anything else, and they must be forced to invest in projects such as yours which would help decrease greenhouse gases. I do not know what you think of this situation. It is a dead-end. The situation is urgent, and there is lots of talk, people are talking about technology as though it will happen one day, whereas we must act now.