Mr. Speaker, this week the government of the United States announced that the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service is going to be split into two agencies. Why is it doing that? It is because it understands that it cannot reconcile the objective of trying to maximize oil revenues from the role of implementing safety and environmental standards. It has that right, but the Conservatives are moving in the opposite direction.
We have to ask the question, why? Why are they turning over to the industry-friendly National Energy Board the job of environmental assessment? It makes no sense.