Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for meeting with us today.
As a complete layperson about these matters, my question will be similar to my colleague's, Mr. Allen.
In the mind of the public, British Petroleum, a well-known, rich and serious corporation certainly had appropriate safety equipment to drill. It certainly had trained personnel. It had an emergency plan. There were emergency procedures that were well known. It certainly had international contacts in case of major problems, like all big corporations have. It obviously had lots of experience and a lot of data collected over the years about what might happen.
Despite all that, there was a blowout that lasted for several months and, today, according to media reports, the most recent estimate of the cost of the operation is $40 billion, which may not even be the final amount.
At the National Energy Board, you talk about strengthening your regulations. What makes you so sure that you will be able to set up something better than all that, especially in relation to the Arctic — which Mrs. Gallant referred to — since drilling in the Arctic is a whole other kettle of fish, a more complex and dangerous proposition, I believe?