Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Those alternatives would require siting permits and construction. Those alternatives are less safe than a pipeline and much more costly than a pipeline. Over time, you can replace Line 5 and Line 9 into the province of Quebec, but it will be much more costly for consumers, and an immediate shutdown would obviously cause energy scarcity, as I mentioned in my prior remarks.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  We are at close to full capacity on the existing lines now. We can move a little more crude oil from Chicago to Sarnia, but it's not really meaningful. The replacement of Line 5 would effectively be moving oil from Edmonton to Sarnia on a train, or trucking that oil from the U.S., with U.S. production, up into Sarnia.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  To be perfectly frank, we don't expect any court to shut the pipeline down in May. We don't see any avenue for how that can happen. We need to work through this U.S. federal court hearing and process, in the medium term, to make sure that doesn't actually happen. In the future, should some court actually shut us down, we would be short crude oil and natural gas liquids for refineries in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, along with refineries in Ontario and Quebec.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  It's important to reiterate that we need to keep the diplomatic channels open; we need to file all the briefings we need to file in court, and we need to ensure that we let Canadians know that all of us collectively are looking after their best interests.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  We believe that this will go through the U.S. federal courts. We believe there will be reviews at multiple levels at the U.S. federal court, and that this review will take many years, so it's essential that we try to come up with a mediated and negotiated diplomatic solution that takes us out of the hands of the court and provides a reasonable outcome for everyone involved.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  In our history of operating the largest pipeline network in North America, both natural gas and crude oil, we have had a proactive approach in engaging with indigenous people. We want to make sure we're aligned with them as we operate across their traditional lands. A great example would be the work we did in Canada with the first nations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba as we built the Line 3 replacement.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  That's a very important issue for the U.S. federal government to look at. It's why we think it's important for the U.S. federal government to weigh in on this particular challenge. The U.S. pipeline safety act definitively says that the safety and operation of pipelines is under U.S. federal oversight.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  That is a distinct possibility.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  We've done numerous studies on the safety of Line 5. So has the U.S. pipeline regulator, PHMSA. The administration of Governor Snyder, prior to that of Governor Whitmer, commissioned a third party to look at the safety of the line. That study confirmed the safety of the line as well, so we've done it.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  It's very important that the Canadian government and the provincial governments of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta make it very clear that Line 5 is a critical piece of energy infrastructure for Canada, for all the reasons we've talked about already. It's very important for the Canadian governments to make the U.S. governments, both state and federal, understand that this is a very important binational issue, that the energy security of both the states in the U.S.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  At this point, everyone is, and as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we're very thankful for the support we have from team Canada. I think it's very important that we not take our foot off the gas.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I don't have the specific job losses for the industries that would be affected in Quebec. I think that should be answered by Suncor and Valero, which are the primary operators of the refineries in Quebec. Obviously, there's also the chemical industry in eastern Montreal, which would be affected as well.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Line 3 is a replacement project for a pipeline that was built in the late 1960s. In 2014 we got approval from the Canada Energy Regulator and our customers to go ahead and replace that pipeline in Canada. Then we've just recently gotten approval from the State of Minnesota to replace the portion of that line in that state.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  In Minnesota we are operating and constructing as we speak. We will finish sometime in the summer, and hopefully we'll be able to have the pipeline up and running by the start of the fourth quarter. At that time we'll be able to let people know whether our cost estimate was close or whether it has changed since the numbers we provided recently.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Absolutely.