Thank you. This is a really important issue.
Canada is emerging as an energy superpower, and already is one in the mining area. Regulatory reform is actually the key to ensuring the future development of our resources. As I've said on a number of occasions, and most recently in a speech to the Manning Institute, there's too much duplication of effort and there are too many regulatory hurdles that need to be reformed. That's why in the Speech from the Throne we made it a priority to overhaul our regulatory system. This will involve moving to a one project, one review system that will provide predictable and timely regulatory review for the sector.
It's very important that we do this without undermining the regulatory integrity that is so important to ensuring that we address the environmental issues in a responsible way. There is no need and no desire and no intent to undermine that regulatory authority, but we need to make the system more efficient, less duplicative and, above all, more timely. Excess delay can undermine the economic viability of a project, and it can impede our progress.
We're looking at some $500 billion in new projects in the next 10 years. If they are delayed by years, this has a terrible impact on the economy; it means jobs are not created as soon as they otherwise would be and that some projects may actually not go ahead. So this is an important issue. It's highly complex, but we have to get on to it, and this government is absolutely determined to do that.
So we give this a high priority, and I'm talking to my colleagues about this. I know that the Minister of the Environment is very much seized of this issue. We're taking a whole-of-government approach and expect to make some progress in this matter.