I thank the honourable member for his question.
It did take too long. There's no question about it.
This isn't in whatever notes were prepared for me, but I will say this and I think most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would agree with me. The offshore has never figured very highly on the national lens or the national scope. I remember, in fact, in our first full year in office, there was a contingent that attended CERAWeek in Houston, as the member well knows. NRCan officials were there. The minister was there. I believe our premier of the day was there, as well as associate ministers and premiers from other provinces. It was a big celebration of Canadian energy. As NRCan made its opening remarks on behalf of the Canadian contingent, it spoke of the great oil producing provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There was an awkward pause as every Newfoundlander and Labradorian in the room waited for their province to be recognized as an oil producing province. It was not.
There is an institutional bias that I obviously have fought very hard to make sure to rectify, although to be fair to my colleagues, by the time I had arrived at NRCan, I think that lesson had been learned. I don't cast aspersions on either party. I think this is just sometimes the Ottawa mentality. The bottom line is that Newfoundland and Labrador is the third and very important oil producing province. Therefore, it deserves the same attention and is wanting of the same attention, particularly on things that are as important as safety regulations.
The regulations themselves are complex. As I said, they total near 300 pages. Let me reassert that when it comes to the lives and safety of the men and women who work in our offshore, you don't take shortcuts. We owe them that to keep them safe.
You consider the domestic and international standards—