Thanks, Chair.
Thank you to both of our witnesses today for such an eloquent and informed demonstration of the challenges that face Canadian energy security of supply and exports—which directly impact proponents' decisions around production, based on whether or not they have enough infrastructure to export—and, of course, all the benefits for Canadian sovereignty, affordability and self-reliance, as you have articulated.
It is certainly appalling to Conservatives, who have always pushed this same Liberal government to fix the pancaking—because of domestic Canadian policy—of anti-energy legislation, red tape policies and taxes that, as you both articulated, our biggest customer, competitor and now threat, the United States, does not impose upon itself.
Of course, the private sector has issued a number of letters, with an increasing number of signatories among CEOs of all kinds—quite unusual in Canada, actually—with very clear directions to the government to fix the fundamentals, to provide certainty and clarity in legislation and policies, and to have a competitive fiscal investment attraction environment. That way, the private sector can get timely permit approvals and actually know that, on the back end, when they get an approval from the government, they will be able to construct that important energy infrastructure to the benefit of Canada and of North American security and resilience, once they get that green light.
To both of you, thank you for telling the truth. The Trans Mountain expansion—which, as you of course know, in the view of Conservatives should have been built by the private sector proponent, but it couldn't be because of the lack of federal certainty—does primarily feed the American PADDs, which then export from the gulf coast. It is still clear that, more than ever before, dedicated interjurisdictional pipelines for export are required for investment to come back to Canada, at the staggering and generational lost levels that you have both identified.
I would just invite you both to comment on what you would see as the top priority issues for certainty and clarity for investors in Canada to pave the way for the private sector to get timely approvals on energy export infrastructure. What do you see as the main gaps that definitely must be closed in Canada to make us competitive with the United States, and, most importantly, to expand our export markets well beyond that customer, competitor and, now, major trade threat?
I'll go to Rory first, and then Peter after.