Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
I'd like to ask some questions about an industry that is extremely important to the province that I come from, Newfoundland and Labrador, and that's the offshore oil and gas sector.
Given that we have a new government with new objectives, I want to discuss more specifically not only how this sector relates to trade diversification but also, within that context, the impact that the emissions cap has on investor certainty.
First, given the Prime Minister's clear mandate to diversify Canada's trade and the fact that offshore oil in Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the few resources with direct access to tidewater, I'm curious to know whether the witnesses might agree or disagree that this sector could be an important part of the Prime Minister's mandate.