Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the deputation for being here.
Mr. Chair, would the committee be interested in exploring, if you'll pardon the pun, the capital side of exploration and the interface with refining and processing?
The issue that has more recently evolved is related to “patriating” capital. In a global situation, we have more recent examples of Chinese state-owned corporations that are vying to use capital to take a large percentage of the refining and processing of national resources. Would you like to take the opportunity to give us some direction?
I note that while you've been concentrating on exploration, you've looked at extending the investment tax credit for exploration, modernizing Canadian exploration expenses, and introducing a tax credit for deep drilling. But I don't note any application with respective incentives that could deal with the issue of capital investment. It seems to me, and I hope to the committee, that we have limited reserves, but we should be extracting, if you'll pardon the pun again, the highest value-added in terms of jobs and economic multipliers.
Do you have a concern that it isn't happening? Do you have a concern that there isn't a level playing field, for example, with state-owned Chinese corporations that don't have to abide by the same international competitive regimes as Canadian firms do?