I drilled my first well in Quebec in 1989. We were not successful then, and that's when I went to the Republic of Georgia, as I mentioned. I came back in 1998 to try again, with the idea that we could find unconventional resources. So we've been at this now in Quebec for 12 years. We've been through a number of different economic and energy cycles in that time.
The real dream was to be able to find a big discovery of gas in Quebec and do something that would have an impact on energy independence for Quebec.
I would mention that Quebec is Canada's second biggest market for natural gas. It is a very large market, second only to Ontario. The local market is more than a big enough prize for our shareholders, although of course my shareholders are always asking me to do more, so export would be a possibility. I don't think export could happen for at least 10 years, and I think it's going to take us quite a number of years just to satisfy the size of the local market.
Concerning farming, one of the great things about the oil and gas sector in western Canada is just how well it mixes with farming, because we have a very small land print. People continue to farm. It's not as though we turn their farms into a factory and then they have to lose their farm; in fact, just the opposite. There are many examples of people on family farms having been allowed to stay on a family farm and keep farming because an oil and gas operation has come and has supplemented their income.
I think it has been extraordinarily successful as an industry in mixing well with farming, but also in spreading the economic benefits, not just in Calgary but also throughout the regions. That's why we think that in the lowlands it's going to be a very complementary mix to the current use of land there.
I admit that our education of people as to the potential benefits and how well we mix has not been as good as it could be. But I can tell you that when you examine the dozens and dozens of different types of jobs that are involved in oil and gas, there will be people in Quebec who can do those jobs today. We've been in communication with the CEGEP at Thetford Mines about training people. There are many jobs that in a very short period of time local people will be able to do as well.
I can tell you that to be profitable, because shale is a very high capital cost operation, we have to have local service and local employment, because it just won't be competitive to be flying people in from Calgary every two weeks.