Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you to launch this round of discussions on this important topic.

I'm accompanied, as you said, by colleagues from the Department of Finance, who will be able to unpack some of the measures that are contained in the most recent budget document, notably the tax measures; our colleague from Environment Canada, who will deal with issues ranging from regulatory issues to programs; and colleagues from ISED as well. I hope this group will be helpful when answering your questions.

I will focus my remarks on the global and North American contexts, as well as how NRCan is working with international partners to advance a competitive net-zero economy.

Canada and the world are faced with dual challenges: addressing climate change at one end and adjusting to shifting geopolitical contexts at the other. We've all seen what's been happening in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the dramatic impact it had in terms of supply for the region. However, the impact was just as dramatic elsewhere in the world, in the Americas but also in Asia, where partners are looking for reliable suppliers of critical minerals and energy. Canada is ideally positioned to support them in that context.

The Government of Canada has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050; domestic action and international partnerships will be key to achieving this objective. Canada is not alone in its energy transition ambitions. Many of our allies and competitors recognize the importance of the transition to their economic and strategic well-being.

The pandemic and the Ukraine crisis were sharp reminders of the importance of continued international co-operation in order to attain our energy security and affordability needs in this low-carbon future.

As an administrative point, if we look at what's been announced in the European Union, an amount in the order of 700 billion euros has been committed to accomplishing this energy transition. Similarly, in the case of the U.S., with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act that was introduced a year or so ago, there is about $369 billion U.S. for energy- and climate-related actions in order to accomplish their varied objectives. Those are the measures, but there is quite a bit of pressure on us all to be able to compete in this marketplace.

Canada has been equally, if not more, ambitious in terms of climate actions, including $109 billion in spending to date, as well as a price on carbon. On a per capita basis, this is greater than what the U.S. has currently committed.

To illustrate that point, I'll give three quick examples, and we'll have a chance to unpack them during the session that follows.

On critical minerals, NRCan is working with the U.S., the EU, Japan and other friends and allies to develop and secure the supply chains needed for the development and supply of electric vehicles, batteries and so forth. On nuclear, we are also working on advanced nuclear power generation, including SMRs and nuclear fuel supplies. Lastly, on hydrogen, quite a bit of work is happening both in the east—in Quebec and Ontario—and the west to look at developing this very important vector for trade corridors, particularly toward Europe and Asia, which are eagerly looking for supply for decades to come.

In the context of budget 2023, the government has announced a number of spending and tax measures. We're going to hear from our Department of Finance colleagues on those more fully. They are fairly significant, ranging in the tens of billions of dollars for the year to come. I'm sure the committee took good notice of those, and I'm happy to entertain questions in that regard.

To note before closing, we are also working very closely with the U.S. Department of Energy, which has been a very strong partner with us for the past decades on a range of technologies, demonstrations and projects that will shape our going forward. The most recent visit of U.S. President Biden put a clear emphasis on energy, climate change and collaboration.

Allow me to close by noting, in the global context, the significant opportunities for job creation and economic growth. We are looking to our suite of measures to ensure the proper supports for workers around the country, so they benefit from the opportunities that come from energy decisions.

On this, I look forward to the discussion and the questions from all of you.