Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses today.
Professor Schaffer, it's good to see you again, a former colleague of mine at the University of Calgary. The university, Alberta and Canada benefit from your knowledge, as we benefit from the knowledge of all of our witnesses today.
Canada has many grids. Canada has many energy clusters. It is a north-south continent, and integrations are often north-south rather than east-west. That's true of gas, oil and electricity. In some ways, that makes a great deal of sense. Geography and market size push us that way; they push us south. Economics drive us that way. There is easier terrain, and there are better customer bases in the sense that they're bigger customer bases. This study is looking at both energy security and opportunities in electricity at the same time, I think in part because we know our energy future is an electricity future.
Professor Schaffer and Professor Pineau, you both talked about flexible demand and interprovincial ties, and you underlined that these are not just technical challenges. I think about my home jurisdiction of Alberta and how very different the market design is between Alberta and B.C. in particular. Could you both expand on some of the considerations or hurdles for interprovincial interties—and maybe not even just interties, because that's a physical thing, but also the trading of electricity between markets, technical and otherwise?
Maybe we can start with you, Mr. Schaffer.