Environment committee  Chair, thank you. First let's look at the term “subsidy”. There are no production subsidies for our industry, but in terms of investment in emissions-reducing technologies, that's a necessary requirement to move the technology forward in a commercial way that will generate the investment.

Environment committee  Canada is by no means a leader in CCUS and we need to be comparable with other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Environment committee  Potentially it could, depending on how they approach it. If we look at this in a way where we're treating the oil and gas industry from a tax perspective like any other industry in terms of how it's taxed and financed, then that's neutral. That should enable the industry to compete on a level playing field with any other jurisdiction.

Environment committee  You're welcome.

Environment committee  Absolutely. There are absolutely no production subsidies for oil and gas whatsoever. In terms of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, the framing is to what extent the supports are effective at achieving or delivering government policy objectives. That's the opening frame. It's the frame that both ECCC and federal finance have looked at.

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. Limiting access to capital for oil and gas would be detrimental to the Canadian economy for a number of reasons. First, I'd start with global emissions. We see Canadian oil and gas companies as some of the most responsibly developed oil and gas globally.

Environment committee  On that one, we defer to the ECCC review and analysis of subsidy. They did not identify it as a subsidy, largely because they see it as generating return for the government. This is merely an investment for the government that generates a return. They're going to be selling the asset to the private sector.

Environment committee  Investing in emissions reduction technology is often unproven and can be substantially costly. From a private sector perspective, I think for all aspects of the economy we would be looking for incremental costs that would be borne that would be difficult to support for investors, particularly investors who are looking at investing on a global basis.

Environment committee  That's a great question. I think we can see from the current crisis that it was building over time. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this was building. Underinvestment was occurring globally in oil and gas, largely as a result of the focus on transition. It's illustrative of the duration that will be necessary to transition our economies.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for having us today. My name is Ben Brunnen. I'm vice-president of oil sands and fiscal policy at CAPP, and I'm joined by my colleague Shannon Joseph, VP government relations and indigenous affairs. We support the Government of Canada's desire to achieve international climate objectives, which will require innovation, major investment, a healthy industry and good public policy.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chairperson and members of the committee. Thank you for having me here today. I am vice-president of oil sands, fiscal and economic policy with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. We represent the upstream oil and gas industry. COVID-19 significantly impacted our sector.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. In terms of leading the recovery, we are a substantive contributor to Canadian GDP across all provinces, so finding ways to encourage and attract investment in our industry will help substantially in levering growth for Canada, for the Canadian economy, and pulling us out of this very deep contraction, from an economic perspective.

Finance committee  Sure. In terms of recognition and support, what we are seeking, I would say, is recognition comparable to other jurisdictions for our performance on the environment and on social and governance-related matters. Recognize that our industry can be a key contributor to reducing global GHGs while developing our resources responsibly.

Finance committee  In our view, the recovery is likely going to be protracted. It's going to take some time to get ourselves back to a strong economic position as a country. Our view is that the government should look to the sectors that can help lead the recovery. We think the oil and gas industry is one of those sectors.