I just want to reaffirm the line of questioning you started out with.
A lot has certainly happened with these three companies, Syncrude and Suncor, in particular, if you take it from the early stages right through to the present time. They've done a lot of pioneering work. They've made a lot of technological breakthroughs, etc. But what's missing now is a framework in which to put this, a policy framework that is going to be able to deal with the issues both at the present time and in the future. That's why we feel very strongly that there needs to be that moratorium on new things happening, in order to take a look at what has happened up to this time, to take a look at what can be done with carbon sequestering, what can be done with regard to the reclamation process, and what can be done with regard to the water issues.
I have different figures from what we've heard from Mr. Carter on Syncrude. I don't dispute the fact that he has those figures, but the independent studies that have been done show a different picture. But that's another matter.
The point I'm trying to make is that we do need to put a policy framework over this, because we're dealing with the future of a big part of the country that has implications for the entire continent and for parts of the planet. It's extremely important that we not make the wrong mistakes on this. It is incumbent on the national government in this country, through this committee, to actually take that leadership and to put out a call, if you can, for a moratorium on future...and looking at what kinds of benchmarks need to be put in place, what kinds of measurements need to be put in place, and what kinds of evaluations are needed for where we go in the future on this.
Secondly, I have to say that it's all tied up with the question of an energy policy for the country. We can talk about the fact that, yes, we have all of this energy we're producing, all this oil and gas we're producing. We can talk about the fact that we're exporting it to the United States. But we have to also acknowledge the fact that we're importing a huge amount of oil. Up to 50% of our oil in the country is from elsewhere, particularly dealing with Quebec and the Maritimes. So there are some really profound questions of insecurity as well as security. Those questions affect us here in terms of our future energy, and we need to get a handle on them. I would argue that we need to strike at this moment, to take the time to do this and to invoke a moratorium that will allow us to come to grips with this, in order to put in place the kind of policy and strategy framework that's going to be necessary for future development.