Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know you will be more generous with me.
I want to introduce myself. I'm Blaine Calkins. I'm a member of Parliament from rural Alberta. I represent great, hard-working people there, many of whom work in the oil and gas sector in Alberta. I just want to say thank you as an Albertan for the fact that a large number of Canadians—and rightfully so—come from across Canada to work in Alberta or in Saskatchewan. But I understand full well, Mr. Norton and Mr. Teed, that it would be nice to be able to live where you work.
For the last eight years I have been commuting back and forth to Ottawa, and I understand how that happens, but part of that commute is getting on a flight usually on Thursday nights here in Ottawa—or maybe Toronto, if I happen to be connecting—where I hear from people. I know from their accents they are either francophones, they are Acadians, or they are people from Atlantic Canada getting on the airplane, and they are wearing Firebag jackets or they are wearing Albian jackets. They are wearing whatever they happen to be wearing because of the projects they are working on.
They are wearing those jackets because they are proud of the work they are doing, and they come to where the work actually is, and I have no qualms. I'm going to tell you as an Albertan that I have absolutely no qualms. I am a big proponent of east and west energy corridors in our country, far more so than I am of north and south energy corridors.
I just want to let you know where my head's at on this, and I want to thank both of you for coming here today.
My question for you two gentlemen or anybody who wants to take this question is this. Given the varying changes in employment across the country right now, what further potential is there in your regions, the regions you are operating business in, for further growth? I mean we're bringing people in. We're net importers of workers. If you are able-bodied in Alberta, you can have a job. The most common sign in my riding is “Help Wanted”. I guess my question for you, from a labour force perspective is, how much room for growth is there in overall training in your particular areas?
My question for Ms. Bak is one dealing with intellectual property. We don't deal a lot and we don't talk a lot about intellectual property. It's very complicated and very technical, but I believe the key to a successful society and a successful industry is having the right intellectual property in place to spur innovation, growth, and so on.
You talk about how a lot of these companies trade, how they value, and what they sell. For a lot of companies it's not just the products they sell, it's the actual intellectual property that's the most valuable part of their company.
I wonder if you would talk about investments in intellectual property, the energy sector's investments in intellectual property and its advancements in technology. Would you talk about that side of the industry a little bit?
I'll leave it at that.
I think that will use up all my time, Mr. Chair.