Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thanks to our witnesses as well.
There is, of course, a growing opportunity. You and other witnesses have talked about how energy has become an increased part of Canada's exports, which I also want to flag. It doesn't really suggest that exports are in decline in the energy sector, but we also need to be thinking about where the market is going. I do believe that, even in a world that uses less oil, demand for Canadian oil can continue to grow.
I worked on the northern gateway project. I worked on the energy east project. I worked on the TMX. I do think we need to be pretty honest with ourselves here. There are absolutely regulatory efficiencies to be found, and those need to be resolved. However, there are also fundamental economic challenges. We're talking about going west over the mountains or going east over an entire country—greenfield construction. These are not the most economic solutions available to our oil and gas sector. This is a north-south continent. I mean, you see it in the pad system and in existing infrastructure.
Ms. Exner-Pirot, you talked about tolls. It is challenging to say, “Go build something that is less economic, and then we are going to toll you on it.” Here is my quandary: Free markets are naturally going to gravitate towards that north-south market integration and that infrastructure. How do we incentivize east-west infrastructure, and how do we incentivize export infrastructure without badly distorting the market?
Maybe we can start with you, Ms. Exner-Pirot.