Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for being here this morning.
I am going to continue with Mr. Alvarez from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, because a number of statements and visions are different for the petroleum industry.
During your presentation—and I read this in your brief—you stated on several occasions that you wanted to be treated like any other industry. You explained to us that capital is mobile and that industries can obviously invest elsewhere. While it is true that capital is mobile, the oil, as such, is not, since it is concentrated in specific places. At present, major investments are being made in certain regions of Canada, primarily in Alberta, naturally, and these investments, among other things, are the reason why you are facing such high development costs.
The other thing that really surprised me when you talked about being like any other industry is that for years, petroleum companies, namely those developing the oil sands, received preferential treatment: the accelerated capital cost allowance was in place for years, and there was the tax treatment for royalties that was modified and that favoured oil companies over mining companies. During all of those years spent developing the oil sands to make them profitable, you asked for special treatment.
But now that the oil sands are profitable and making money—we see the huge corporate profits—you are asking to be treated like everyone else. To me there seems to be an imbalance there, and as a society, it would be normal to ask oil companies to bear a portion of the environmental costs resulting from both the development and extraction of the resource rather than only when it is ultimately used, because greenhouse gases are essentially produced through the combustion of oil or natural gas.
As an industry, are you prepared to bear the burden of the environmental damage caused by petroleum development? For example, if an industry causes a spill, accidentally or otherwise, should it be responsible for the consequences?