Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ms. Blake, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Marcel.
There's something I find amazing with this oil sands study. I have been here for a few years and I've never witnessed a project or an initiative that's crying out to be dealt with, yet every witness who comes here talks about their powerlessness. It seems that no one can do anything.
Mr. Allen, in your presentation you started off by saying you have no expertise in environmental or social matters. I understand that, but, with respect, we know there is a lot of money to be made on the oil sands. That's a good thing if it can be done in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. But we know there are some huge challenges there with respect to water, with respect to CO2, with respect to the pressure on the infrastructure, and with social problems. We've heard some of that today from Mr. Marcel and Ms. Blake.
Why is that? Are you so powerless? We're going to be having the Alberta government come here, because if one wants to deal with this.... There have been proposals for a moratorium or to regroup a bit before we proceed with all these new projects and a desire to deal with some of these issues of infrastructure, social problems, water, CO2, and the use of natural gas, before we just start on the next phase. Jurisdictionally, the province clearly could do that. I'm not sure if they have the political will to do that.
The federal government has certain levers it could use. I don't know if the federal government has the political will to do that. I'm hoping this committee has the political will to make some strong recommendations that something be done to deal with these problems, because the bitumen is going to be there for years to come.
We were just up there, and I must say that Albertans and Canadians should be proud of what's going on up there in some respects. But unless we deal with the environmental and social issues, the phrase has been coined that we have our heads in the sands--although I know it's a very poor pun.
Let me start with you, Ms. Blake. In terms of your role, you have certain levers that you can use in terms of permitting. I'm not an expert on municipal affairs, but are you obliged simply to respond to every single demand that's put on your system? Do you have any power to say you are not permitting that because you don't have the infrastructure to deal with the sewage, to deal with the traffic, to deal with the drug addicts, to deal with whatever? Do you have any powers, and are you using them?