Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. My name is Dave Collyer. I'm president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. We represent Canada's upstream oil and gas sector, and our members produce more than 90% of Canada's petroleum resources. I cert

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Yes, I certainly can, and thanks for the question. Let me start by reiterating the point I made in my remarks about global competitiveness. I think it's really important to think about this in the context that we in Canada are competing all the time for markets, for suppliers, a

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  No. I think the answer is definitively not. We look at this entirely in the context of the process by which we get to regulatory decisions. We don't see this in any way impacting or degrading environmental performance. In fact, I think there are a number of elements of what's b

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  There are a lot of questions.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I'll try to talk about all of them. We're a major employer. We're the largest private sector investor across the country. We have a supply chain that extends into Quebec and Ontario, and there are many people in Atlantic Canada who work in the oil sands. Some of you may have

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  It's extremely important. Any supplier of anything wants more than one market. There is an opportunity to ensure that we have access to global prices, and there is an opportunity to ensure we have outlets for the products we sell. So it's extremely important. I come back to int

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I am.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  There are two dimensions. You have to back up and look at the policy construct in which the regulatory process is working. Some elements of project review are clearly in the purview of the regulatory regime. Other elements relate much more to broader public policy.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  No, the answer I would give is that it's important to look at the reasons for a yes or no. The regulators have a responsibility to look at the regulatory framework, and they need to do that within a broader public policy context. I think the public can make a judgment about the r

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  Clearly, the Environmental Assessment Agency needs to be funded to do what it's been mandated to do.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  You're correct in saying that there are a number of projects that have been approved. I think this is about more than oil sands and it's about more than upstream development. The point that was made earlier was that we need to attach ourselves to markets. That requires pipelines.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  You're going to continue to see projects come forward. I would argue that we need to be competitive in that regard and give people who have a viable project an opportunity to get that off the ground and get through the regulatory process.

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  As I said earlier, I don't think this is about changing environmental impacts; it's about changing process. The environmental impacts will have to be assessed in a broader policy context than in a land use planning context. We're talking about the regulatory review process for pr

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I expect it won't reduce the impacts. Those projects will continue to be evaluated as they were before. The outcomes will be assessed. If they can be mitigated, the projects will go forward. This is not about reducing environmental impacts; this is about improving process so proj

Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-38 committee  I think social licence is driven by performance, it's driven by how we communicate, and it's driven by the integrity of the regulatory process. I don't see anything in any of these changes that are being proposed that would negatively impact any of those. In fact, I see some thin