Finance committee  Absolutely. Look at where we've come; from initially putting the mandates in place, we're looking at 1.8 billion litres of ethanol produced every year. For biodiesel it's about 500 million litres. All of the ethanol mandate is being filled with domestic production, as is the majority of the biodiesel one.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. If you don't mind, I'll respond in English though. There's absolutely an impact in our industry. It's not unlike other commodity-based industries. We are witnessing here exceptionally low oil prices combined with a falling Canadian dollar. It creates instability and ripple effects for us as it would really any other segment of the economy at this price when you look at the low price combination in this environment.

Finance committee  The short answer is that it's not true. When the industry started—you'd have to go back 30 or 35 years, really—there would have been more concerns in terms of the impacts on agriculture. Ethanol comes from corn. We use soybeans too. Look at traditional platforms and where they started.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. Thank you to the members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be here today to talk about the diverse and real opportunities presented both from an economic standpoint as well as an environmental standpoint that a diverse energy mix in Canada can provide, including what we think is essential, and that is the expanded use of biofuels.

Finance committee  It really does depend, but mid-level blends like E15 are widely used in vehicles nowadays. Of course flex-fuel vehicles can take a high-level blend. When you have a flex-fuel vehicle it needs the cleaner fuel to derive the environmental benefits, and that's where market access becomes important.

Finance committee  Indeed.

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. So far our production has remained stable in spite of the prices. I think forward-looking continues to look positive for our industry. A lot of that has to do with the demand-stabilizing effects of the mandates, but a lot of it is to the credit of our membership as well.

Finance committee  One thing specifically in our sector that is pretty obvious from a policy standpoint—looking at the current price environment—is that the policies put in place in 2006 are working as they should. A big part of having mandated requirements for renewable content in our fuel pool is to mitigate and to plan for stabilizing demand in uncertain times.

Finance committee  Absolutely. Yes, I know Mr. Gale; his group in Niagara is part of our membership now. We're really proud to have them on board. The environment committee did good work in looking at the whole scope of municipal waste and how that problem is really affecting municipalities and communities across Canada.

Finance committee  Thanks.

Finance committee  There are a few things that are important to bear in mind. This is related for us with fuel prices and the relationship between how gasoline is affected by that compared to the pricing for ethanol. Ethanol historically, on average, is about 20¢ cheaper per litre than gasoline. That results in a natural financial incentive for people to blend more ethanol into the fuel supply.

Finance committee  We deal with the liquid transportation field, so I think that Mr. Schaefer would be better placed—

Finance committee  Good morning. Thank you very much. It's a privilege to be here today on behalf of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association and our membership. Just by way of a quick background, our domestic biofuels industry is now generating $3.5 billion yearly in economic activity. We've created over 14,000 quality Canadian jobs to date.