Thank you to the officials for being here today.
In the departmental plan for Natural Resources Canada, under “Investment in Natural Resource Sectors”, you have stated that your department's target is that five-year average growth of the energy sector's capital expenditures be equal to or greater than the past five-year average. Under energy sector capital expenditures, your numbers show that in year 2013-14, capital expenditure growth for the energy sector was 16.6%. In 2015-16, capital expenditure growth was -1% for the energy sector.
To what does your department attribute the downturn in capital expenditures in the energy sector?