Industry committee  I did not see the documentation, nor was I a party to discussions between Shell and the companies that signed a confidentiality agreement with Shell—not just Delek; there were several of them. I was not present for those calls or those meetings, but to my knowledge, Shell did inform those companies that the equipment would have to be upgraded.

Industry committee  The federal government sat on the committee along with officials from other levels of government. It offered the committee its support—unconditional support—just as the other levels of government did. To my knowledge, the Minister of Natural Resources was in contact with Shell officials at various levels throughout the process.

Industry committee  On the trend, obviously I'd only be guessing here. I remember when GM closed its plant in Quebec, there was a committee that had been struck. I don't remember who was sitting on the committee. I think you will likely only see this when you have scale, and hundreds of people whose jobs depend on the survival of the business.

Industry committee  Companies are traded every day. In every business that you can think of there are transactions. As we speak, there have probably been foreclosings. You always have a motivated seller and you've got a motivated buyer. It's not that you're selling because you can't make money with it; you might want to redeploy capital to another part of your global business.

Industry committee  You should ask them, but I think they told me that they had attempted to sell only the refinery in 2009.

Industry committee  I would like to ask Mr. Boles to answer that, because he was involved in the discussions with Shell.

Industry committee  As part of the process we put in place, Mr. Petit, we obviously approached companies operating in the energy sector, most of which were already in the refining business. The vast majority of these companies have a very good understanding of their industry, their operations, their profession and especially the North American market, because it is very different from the European market.

Industry committee  Yes, they did.

Industry committee  The first time I met with Shell officials, they provided me with a document which stated that the refinery was for sale for between $150 million and $200 million. I asked them about the service stations. They answered that they did not want to mix different types of assets and that they might or might not decide to sell the service stations.

Industry committee  Yes, I can clarify that. It was $150 million to $200 million for the refinery. When I met with Shell officials, they asked me to make no promises to potential buyers regarding the possibility of the service stations also being for sale, because Shell wanted to deal with that separately at the appropriate time.

Industry committee  Mr. Wallace, it's very simple; it was to find buyers. The community in Montreal rallied around the refinery. Hundreds of people were going to lose their jobs. The union and the governments asked me to chair the effort, and I agreed to do it.

Industry committee  Well, four, actually. There are two municipal governments involved, the City of Montreal and the City of Montreal East, the federal government, the provincial government, and the union. I agreed to do this pro bono, voluntarily, as did Mr. Delage and everybody who helped us on this.

Industry committee  For those five people who just tuned in, that's the background.

Industry committee  It's the first time I've done it for a large plant such as this, but I was convinced--I was saying earlier in French that I know that communities always rally. In the pulp and paper industry, which I know well, when those mills close, when those big plants close, there's always an effort in the local community to try to find a buyer.

Industry committee  There were discussions with governments regarding the possibilities, but they never made any official commitments. They wanted to meet with the potential buyer first, enquire about the buyer's intentions regarding the assets and also see a business plan, which is perfectly natural.