Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to follow up on a line of questioning. I assume that you guys were all in the room when I was talking when the minister was here. Just to put things back in context, obviously the strategic importance of having the ability to export oil and oil resources from Alberta is critical. The minister eloquently addressed the concerns I had when it came to the Gateway pipeline. And he addressed some of the concerns being addressed with regard to the Keystone pipeline.
We've been building pipelines in Alberta for years and years and years. We have a pretty good track record when it comes to having a safe, environmentally sensitive, and friendly way of transporting our energy resources. However, lately in Alberta I've noticed that diesel fuel is about 30ยข a litre more than gasoline, and it's because of an obvious refining-capacity issue. I get a lot of phone calls from constituents asking me specifically about this. The question that's often posed to me when we hear about these rejections or setbacks when it comes to the refining capacity on the Gulf coast is why we aren't refining more in Canada. Why aren't we building more of own upgraders and capacity here in Canada? Why aren't we, instead of piping it south, piping it to places where people need the work, such as Ontario, and so on? Why aren't we piping it to the west coast?
We can have long debates about policy. I know that you're not here to discuss the technical merits of policy, but I guess my question is, just for my own edification, the following. When was the last time we had any serious investments by the industry? What's keeping the industry from building more capacity for upgrading in Canada and in the United States, so that we have more of this product available?