Natural Resources committee  Yes, we are. I welcome the question, Mr. Chair, about geothermal energy. I would say that this is the missing link in Canada. If you travel in Europe, if you travel in the U.S. and many countries, you would see its presence. You might wonder why we don't have any more here. It's not because we don't have opportunities.

Natural Resources committee  Our colleagues from the mining sector, which is part of NRCan, are certainly attuned to that. You may have noted that we most recently published a mineral action plan for Canada in conjunction with our provincial stakeholders, which is precisely meant to address that very point about making sure that Canada has an agreed-upon game plan that is accepted and supported by all.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. Recognizing that this is led by industry and universities out west— I don't speak on their behalf, and I certainly haven't been directly involved in it—I'll perhaps ask my colleague Dr. Cecile Siewe, who is part of the governance of the CRIN, to add to my remarks. We do have, thanks to this network, both Canada's oil and natural gas producers coming together to really make sure that the ecosystem is efficiently managed.

Natural Resources committee  The main concern at present —and maybe my colleague, Dr. Siewe, could elaborate on this, as the lab definitely does a lot of water research to reduce the amount of freshwater intake into the process— and therefore to use the current water in several usage cycles. Does the water become potable?

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question. This is really a fast-growing sector, where Canada is a world leader in capturing CO2 at the source. There are different carbon capture techniques. It can be captured on industrial sites and even in the air. Carbon Engineering of Squamish, British Columbia, is a world leader in the field and has attracted significant investment from major institutional investors.

Natural Resources committee  On both sides of the border, this is an intensely competitive industry, not just Canada-U.S. but also globally. Canada has to constantly make sure that we're able to play at par. I can certainly comment briefly in terms of our overall tax regime. Looking at the corporate tax rates, in terms of effective tax rates, Canada compares quite advantageously not just with the U.S. but also with global G7 competitors.

Natural Resources committee  —that this is something we're very—

Natural Resources committee  —seized with, and we're working hard to continue to improve. It's an ongoing effort that every country has to pay attention to.

Natural Resources committee  You're referring to the work on retention basins.

Natural Resources committee  This is a significant issue, which has been raised many times by our citizens and clients. We have all seen the images of these huge basins that could and do pose short-, medium- and long-term problems. In the mining sector, for example, we have seen significant risks of spills in this regard.

Natural Resources committee  I feel I'm being asked to play trivia here.

Natural Resources committee  Most certainly, there's potential to have other projects. These are large-scale projects that require careful consideration by the investors given the sheer scale and the impact in terms of infrastructure, but we do have multiple projects on both the west coast and the east coast that are at different stages of review and consideration.

Natural Resources committee  I suspect that the committee member may have the answer.

Natural Resources committee  I'm not sure I understand the question.

Natural Resources committee  That certainly is a prominent feature in our engagement. We're reminded by the courts, by the Federal Court of Appeal this year, of the importance of doing that, and doing that thoroughly. The government took that most seriously. As you've seen, we've devoted considerable efforts, with the help of former Supreme Court Justice Iacobucci, to making sure that we're doing this in the spirit of what the court was advising us to do.