The Senate Energy Committee is exploring whether a sub-ocean blowout like what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico could happen here. Oil companies say their operations are safe and Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis says Canada's regulations are among the strongest in the world, but he acknowledges there is no guarantee against such a disaster.
"I can say with confidence that our [regulatory] system, is one of, if not the very best in the world," Mr. Paradis (Mégantic-L'Érable, Que.) told the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources last month. "We are never completely safe. If, as a government, we could take action to ensure zero risk, we would do so. But there is no such action at present. Unfortunately it may never exist, but we are going to do everything we can to aim for zero risk. That is our goal."
Mr. Paradis was among officials from oil companies, regulators, cleanup specialists and environmental groups testifying at the Senate committee as part of its fact-finding mission into Canada's offshore oil and gas drilling industry in the wake of the BP PLC oil spill.
Source: The Hill Times
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