Respectfully, Mr. Chair, I don't think we would want to reverse changes that have given the National Energy Board broader powers of enforcement and investigation. Those are as substantive as anything. Understanding that the National Energy Board is committed to and focused on safety information for Canadians, in particular with respect to compliance and enforcement actions, the NEB's increase in funding is primarily due to its review of TransCanada's Energy East and Imperial deepwater offshore well applications. As my colleague might know, Mr. Chair, the NEB's funding is cost-recovered from the energy industry. But I can tell you—and this is a message that I have been sending consistently to folks—that the federal government clearly understands its role, and the need for an independent science and fact-based review process that makes accommodations for people who are most directly impacted by a given project, and for any and all technical expertise that's science and fact-based, pertaining to that particular project.
I would conclude, Mr. Chair, by saying that the federal government regulates 73,000 kilometres of pipelines here in Canada and we have a 99.999% safety record. I think that's worth sharing with folks, in particular in the debate about any specific pipeline project, but also with regard to pipelines in general.