Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As someone who's not a regular member of the committee, it's a real pleasure to be here today to address this topic. As an Albertan, I recognize how important natural resources are to our country, to the economy of my province, and to the economy of our country. That's why I'm so pleased to be here.
I look at our oil sands in Alberta, and they currently support about 144,000 jobs all across the country. It's predicted that over the next 25 years they will support about 900,000 additional jobs. We're talking about $2.1 trillion in terms of economic benefits for our country over that same period of time, and about $766 billion in tax revenues to all levels of government over that period of time as well. It's obviously a very important piece of our economy in this country, and one that is going to become even more important over the next while.
Of course our government is committed to making sure that we develop this resource in a safe, responsible, and sustainable way. That's very important to point out. It's certainly important that we develop these resources in the most environmentally responsible way, something that our government completely understands and is working towards ensuring. It's also something industry completely understands, and industry is working very hard to ensure that as well. The oil sands industry is one of the industries at the forefront of environmental innovations, and is ensuring that their resource is being developed in a very responsible way. I look at initiatives such as COSIA, Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, and some of the things they're looking to do through that organization, something our government is certainly encouraging as well.
I have to say that I'm troubled today when I hear a fellow Albertan disparaging our resources. It sounds very much like another Albertan who regularly sits in our Parliament, an NDP member in Edmonton, Linda Duncan.