Natural Resources committee  So I think we should let the mines play out and be very careful in watching how the drilling industry continues to exploit this resource as they have for years--

Natural Resources committee  It was my pleasure. I'm happy to be here. Goodbye to everybody.

Natural Resources committee  I'm not sure I have your question right, but the gist of your point is that although less bitumen on a percentage basis is being upgraded here--you are correct--more bitumen has been upgraded. In fact, I'll just comment about Syncrude. Syncrude, which is the largest mining projec

Natural Resources committee  Greenhouse gases are a tremendous challenge for all of us. I think, so that everybody's on the same page, greenhouse gases are created by the consumption of energy in any form. We consume primarily natural gas energy, and there is consumption of the off-gases from upgrading the f

Natural Resources committee  Stopping the oil sands in any rapid way would be extremely complicated, because there is a lot of capital that has been invested in the oil sands that has not yet come to fruition in terms of production. It's like any contract. We have attracted capital to the country and capit

Natural Resources committee  I'll give you an overarching statistic that is current. The Canadian Energy Research Institute published a report less than a year ago. That report said that over the next 25 years, the oil sands industry will provide $1.7 trillion to the Canadian economy. That is a tremendous am

Natural Resources committee  I think we need the energy security for ourselves. But remember, when it comes to crude oil, it is a global market. You should not act unilaterally as a country, because all you'll do is isolate the economics you create with whatever subsidies or other policies you might bring to

Natural Resources committee  I not only understand Mr. McGowan's concerns, I sympathize with him. I am as Canadian as the next guy, and I would very much like to see more of any product that we make here being upgraded in Canada. The unfortunate economic reality we're facing is that some of the existing up

Natural Resources committee  Well, let me finish. For this reason, you will not get a single person with an economic mind to invest in upgrading capacity. The only way you could do it is by subsidizing it with government money, and this subsidy would be like burning money. That is what I would suggest to y

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm happy to extend my stay here, so I would appreciate dealing with those as soon as we can.

Natural Resources committee  No. In fact, I would think folks should recognize that we've been one of the proponents to entertain a national energy strategy of sorts, so that all of us can do a bit better planning with respect to the development of the oil sands.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your question. My understanding of your question is that it's with respect to the impact on the biodiversity of forests and fauna, etc., and also about what is in the river's water chemistry and what processes we use. We do open-pit mining, so we do strip all of

Natural Resources committee  I did not hear Ms. Brunelle's comments. I heard the first two sentences, and then it went silent. I'm happy to comment on some of the questions that have been raised, but to Ms. Brunelle, you'll have to repeat what you said.

Natural Resources committee  All right. I'll listen, but I'll jump in if I can't hear.

Natural Resources committee  I certainly can, and I'm going to give you some round numbers. Canada produces somewhere around 3 million barrels a day of crude oil, a little bit more when you start to include natural gas liquid. We export between 1.5 million barrels and 2 million barrels a day of oil. The oi