Canadian Utilities Limited (CU) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the 95th Annual General Meeting of Shareowners of Canadian Utilities. Ninety-five years. We were talking about that. Some have been 80-year shareowners and many families here in Alberta. [Operator Instructions] Thank you all for taking the time to join us. It's so nice to be back in person. In the spirit of reconciliation, I'd like to acknowledge and that we all acknowledge the traditional territories and homelands of which many of our Canadian Utilities operations and facilities are located. We honor and respect the diverse history, languages, ceremonies and culture of the indigenous people who call these areas home. Today, we are gathered on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional meeting ground, a gathering place and traveling route to the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene and Lakota Sioux. And I would especially like to thank and welcome Chief Eric Shirt, Saddle Lake Cree; Chief Leonard Standingontheroad, Montana First Nation; Peter Hansen, President Fort McMurray Métis Local 1993 -- 1935; Counselor Felix Schroder, of the Bigstone Cree; and Chief Billy Morin, who is in the Enoch Community, very close to where we are standing today. Thank you very, very much for joining us. And I know there are a number of other indigenous guests that are joining us as well. Russell Noseworthy from Fort Mac Métis. Ken Alook from Bigstone Cree. Where's Ken? I saw you can. There you are. And of course, Chief Morin. And joining us virtually, our Director, Darlene Paradis from Beaver Lake Cree; and my dear friend, Darrell Beaulieu, the CEO of Denendeh Investments, Incorporated, and I'll speak more about the DII a little later this morning. Joining me on the dais today are Brian Shkrobot, your company's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Kyle Brunner, Vice President and corporate Secretary. Many other officers of the corporation and a number of our -- the people of our company are also joining us today, both in person and online. And all of our directors standing for election have joined us in person today. Thank you very much. There's a few special guests I'd also like to acknowledge. Leela Sharon Aheer, MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore; the honorable Scott Brison, Vice-Chair of BMO Capital Markets; Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville; Richard Gotfried, MLA Calgary-Fish Creek; Siegfried Kiefer, our Honorary Director; Kevin Uebelein is here; and also some very, very special dear, old friends and longtime shareowners. [ Belle ], I'm not sure what time you got here this morning. Where are you? You and your -- right in front of me. You and your son -- your grandson [ Jonathan ], came bright and early, and it's so nice to see you here. Thank you so much. And Jonathan, I hope you enjoy your first AGM. [ Carlos ], thank you. Nice to see you again, Carlos [ Barth ], and [ Ernest ], great to see you again. [ Doug Hornbeck ] is here, and there he is. Great to see you my Dutch friend. And [ Ernest Barry ], I think it's your first time. Is it not? And Ernest was -- Oh, there you are. We're going to get that sorted out on your ballots for next time, Ernest. We'll make sure the Canada post delivers your mail properly. Great to see [ Helen. Helen Church ] is here with her grand -- her daughter, [ Leanne. ] Nice to see you. Thanks for coming all the way from Vancouver and your first AGM. And of course, [ Sharon and Norm King ], great to see you both. You're always welcome, and you've been such great supporters. Thank you. And [ Richard Varian ]. Thank you also, Richard, for being with us today. I would like to just take a few moments right now to also thank our Board members and in particular, Charles Wilson. Charles "Chuck" Wilson is retiring from the Board today. And Chuck was first elected as a Director of Canadian Utilities in 2000 and subsequently a Director of ATCO in 2002. He has served your company with distinction for more than 2 decades. And his deep expertise, his peerless integrity and leadership have left a lasting mark on the people of our company. His strategic and tactical thinking has been especially valued in the consideration of many projects and for guiding expansion into new geographies and emerging new markets. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in offering our sincerest appreciation to Chuck Wilson for his tremendous contribution to our business. Thank you so very much, Chuck. On a more somber note, I would also like to recognize the passing of Dennis DeChamplain, who stood before you as CFO for the past 4 years. We have the great privilege of Dennis' contributions and valued friendship in Canadian Utilities for close to 30 years prior to his passing last August. As CEO -- sorry, as CFO, Dennis was instrumental in positioning us for long-term success. His principled and ethical behavior and his desire to seek the best for our people, our customers and our company left an imprint on so many of us. He followed in the great footsteps of Brian Bale, and we will miss Dennis very much in the coming years. Now before we commence the formal part of the business in today's meeting, I'm sure that many of you have heard about, and I would like to address the recent joint settlement agreement between ATCO and the Alberta Utilities Commission. This pertains to a sole-source contract awarded to an indigenous community on the Jasper Interconnection transmission project. First, I want to apologize very deeply to all of you for the disbelief and the disappointment you must have felt just as I and our entire team felt in hearing about this news. I know it has affected me and our whole team deeply. Second, I want to separate the facts from the innuendos and the erroneous misstatements. These misstatements and innuendos have been reported on this subject, and the first fact that I want to impress upon each of you is that the costs in question for the Jasper project were never put into customer rates. And the fine we mutually agreed will not be passed on to customers, not 1 penny. Further, now that the contract has been dealt with our investigations have concluded, the Jasper project is now subject to further scrutiny, discussion for appropriateness during the normal course rate application at the AUC. The second fact I want to make clear is that we should take great confidence that the checks and balances of our corporate and regulatory systems work and they work extraordinarily well. Just as with all capital projects, the Jasper Interconnection was filed with the AUC for their review, their scrutiny and for appropriateness. During the compilation of these highly complex filings, we were alerted internally that we had improperly filed some material regarding this one particular contract and we immediately began our own investigation. Now during our investigation, the AUC was also made aware of suspected irregularities filed on the Jasper Project. We worked in concert and in full cooperation with the AUC to thoroughly identify what had gone wrong. So number three, in terms of facts. Our investigations did indeed find that proper procedures were not followed. We found that shortcuts and a lack of transparency had indeed occurred with regards to the First Nations contract. And we did not live up to our own deeply held standard of excellence. Now I want to assure you, our Board of Directors, the guests here today that, in light of these findings, we continued internally to do a thorough forensic investigation and review of all of our projects contracts, and I can and do happily confirm that this was an isolated incident. We remain committed to truth and reconciliation. And we will continue to foster respectful, deep and inclusive relationships with indigenous communities here in Canada and around the world. And I am truly sorry this project may have caused our indigenous communities harm in any way, and we will work hard to regain your trust. Canadian Utilities takes great pride in being a leader in Canada for developing indigenous partnerships. And some of these partnerships have endured for more than 3 decades long before the current discussions on truth and reconciliation occurred, not because we had to but because it's the right thing to do and it is in the best interest of the indigenous people of this country, our utility customers and nonutility customers alike. The AUC is very much aware of the need for indigenous communities to play a role in infrastructure development and has set precedent for indigenous sole-source contracts as well as affiliate party conduct, which were the 2 areas of concern in the Jasper filing. There are many examples of these types of transactions over the years, which is why I, your executive team, our Board of Directors, we're so offended that a few individuals in our company who knew how and had properly documented these types of transactions in the past, failed to do so this time. Their lack of transparency and oversight is not who we are. It is not how we lead. It's not how we operate, and they are no longer with the company. And while I feel the amount of the penalty is far greater than the circumstances warranted, I and your Board of Directors accept that this fine will serve as an important message to all of us in Canadian Utilities as well as signal the importance of doing things properly, transparently, paying attention to the details to all utilities across this province. Within Canadian Utilities shortcuts and lack of transparency will not be tolerated. Only those that hold our core value of integrity and continue to strive for excellence in all that we do, only these people that fully commit to who we are with courage, discipline and caring will have a place in our company. I will now move on to the formal part of our meeting, which will be followed by presentations from Brian Shkrobot on our financials and then back to me on operational highlights. I will then open the floor to all of you for any questions you may have online or here in person. Kurt Kadatz, Director of Corporate Communications, is our moderator for the questions and comments being submitted by those attending virtually today. And for you attending virtually, you may submit your questions through the messaging icon on your screen at any time. Can you believe that we talk about these icons and the virtual approach. It's so nice to be in person, but I understand many of you wanted to be virtual, and I appreciate it. During the meeting, Mr. Kadatz will read out your questions for everyone to hear during the question-and-answer period. I will ask Kyle Brunner to act as Secretary for this year's meeting, and I will ask Patricia Selby of TSX Trust, our registrar and transfer agent-to act as scrutineer. And the scrutineer has advised us that a quorum is present, and therefore, I declare the meeting properly called and regularly constituted for the transaction of business. I think I said that in reverse. Only owners of voting Class B shares and the holders of valid proxies of those shares are entitled to vote on the business of the meeting today. And for those shareholders who are entitled to vote and who have not yet voted, you'll be able to vote on the matter before us by way of that ballot. If you are a shareholder or duly appointed proxyholder, submitting -- you've submitted voting in your -- who submitted voting instructions in advance of the meeting, your vote has already been recorded and registered with our transfer agent. It will be included in the final count. And for those shareholders who are entitled to vote and are participating virtually, the online ballot will appear on your screen, and the polls for all resolutions are now open online. You can vote at any time during the formal part of the business until the polls are closed at the end of the meeting. And for those shareholders attending in person who are entitled to vote and have not yet voted, you should have a ballot available to you and -- when you registered this morning. Is there anyone here eligible to vote that did not receive a ballot? Okay. Great. Completed ballot forms won't be collected because there are none at the -- during the meeting. The scrutineer will tabulate all the ballots for each motion, and the results will be announced at the end of this formal part. Now in order to expedite matters, employee shareowners or duly appointed proxyholders will move and second the motions. First, I wish to table the consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report, MD&A and proxy. And you'll notice this year we did a little different presentation with the commentary around our highlights in a different book. These are all available for you at the registrars' desks. The next item is to proceed with the election of your directors as proposed in the management proxy circular. All the nominees are currently directors of the corporation, and their detailed biographies are available in the management proxy circular. And the meeting is now open to receive nominations for directors.

Good morning. I am Melanie Bayley, President, ATCO Electric. I've been with the corporation for 21 years, and I am a proud shareholder. I nominate for election as directors of the corporation: Matthias Bichsel, Loraine Charlton, Robert Hanf, Robert Normand, Alexander Pourbaix, Hector Rangel, Laura Reed, Nancy Southern, Linda Southern-Heathcott, Roger Urwin and Wayne Wouters.

Thank you, Melanie. Are there any other nominations from the floor? Mr. Kadatz, are there any nominations coming virtually?

No other nominations have been received.

Thank you. I, therefore, declare the nominations closed. And may I have a motion to elect those nominated as directors.

Thank you. I'm Jason Sharp, President of ATCO Gas & Pipelines. I've been with the corporation for 19 years, and I'm a proud shareowner. I move that the 11 persons nominated be individually elected as directors of the corporation until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Thank you very much, Jason. And may I have a seconder for the motion, please?

I'm Becky Penrice, Executive Vice President, Corporate Services. I've been with the corporation for 2 years, and I'm a proud shareowner. And I second that motion.

A rookie still. Thank you very much. And we'll continue with the next item on our agenda, which is the appointment of the corporation's auditors. May I have a motion to appoint the auditors, please.

Good morning. I'm Bob Normand. I'm the Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Corporation's Board of Directors. I've been on the board since 2008, and I also am a proud shareholder. I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chartered Accountants, be appointed auditor of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Thank you very much, Mr. Normand. May I have a seconder, please?

Good morning. I'm Roger Urwin. I have the privilege of being the Lead Director of your Corporation's Board of Directors. I'm a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. I've been on the Board since 2020. And I, too, am a proud shareowner. I second the motion.

Thank you very much, Dr. Irwin. And we will continue with the next item on our agenda, which is the approval of the replenishment of the number of Class A shares reserved for issuance under the stock option plan. The full text of the ordinary resolution regarding the share reserve replenishment that is to be approved by shareowners is set out on Page 11 of the management proxy circular. May I have a motion to approve the resolution.

I'm Becky Penrice. I move that the resolution set out on Page 11 of the management proxy circular be approved.

Thank you very much, Ms. Penrice. May, I have a seconder, please?

Good morning. I'm Colin Jackson, Senior Vice President, Finance, Treasury, Risk and Sustainability. I've been with the corporation for 9 years, and I too am a proud shareowner. I second the motion.

Thank you, Colin. [Voting] As there is no further business for the official part of the meeting, I declare that the polls are now closed. And if you are voting in person today, please raise your hand if you think that you may have forgotten your ballot. If you're voting online, the scrutineers will include your vote in the tabulation, and we'll now wait for the scrutineers to count the votes and declare the results. And this is the part of the meeting that -- I wish I had a joke or something for you while we wait for our register. Very quick. Our Vice President, Corporate Secretary, Kyle Brunner, has now received the scrutineer's preliminary report, and I would ask you to read the results.

With respect to the election of directors, the scrutineers have reported that shareholders voted 99% or more in favor of the election of each nominee as director.

I therefore declare the motion passed. Congratulations to all of the directors on behalf of all of the shareowners, and I want to thank you each for your tremendous contributions, your attention to detail and you're caring for this great company. Thank you. Kyle?

With respect to the motion to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as the corporation's auditor for the ensuing year, the scrutineers have reported that shareholders voted 99% or more in favor of the motion.

I therefore declare the motion passed. And I would like to introduce to you Shannon Ryhorchuk and Steve Hollinger, partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who are here with us today. Thank you very much. Kyle?

With respect to the approval of the ordinary resolution approving the replenishment of the number of Class A shares reserved for issuance under the corporation's stock option plan, the scrutineers have reported that shareholders voted 99% or more in favor of the resolution.

Scott, I bet you wish you had those kinds of voting results in the past. I, therefore, declare the company resolution of shareholders has been approved -- or the ordinary resolution of shareholders. This now concludes the formal business. And I propose that we bring this part of the meeting to an end so that you can hear about the interesting aspects of our financials and our highlights. May I have a motion to close the meeting, please.

I'm Kevin Burgemeister. I'm the Vice President of Operations for ATCO Electric. I've been with the corporation for 22 years, and I'm a proud shareowner. I move that this meeting be terminated.

Thank you, Kevin. Great to see you. May I have a seconder, please?

I'm Jacalyn Hodgson, Vice President, Engineering. I've been with the corporation for 20 years, and I am also a proud shareowner, and I second the motion.

Thank you very much, Jacalyn. All those in favor, please raise your hand. [Voting] Laundry minded? Motion is carried. Ladies and gentlemen, that completes the formal business. And it is now my great pleasure to introduce you to our Chief Financial Officer, Brian Shkrobot. Brian?

Thank you, Nancy. And good morning, everyone. It's indeed my pleasure to address you as your Chief Financial Officer today. Before I jump into today's presentation, I thought I'd put up this slide. It reminds us of the magnitude and reach of operations here at Canadian Utilities. I can honestly say that I'm proud and honored to work for a company that has so much to offer. We have world-class skills and capabilities. And with over 4 million customers and $21 billion of assets, we are focused on delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers. We're also well-positioned to play a leading role in the energy transition for a cleaner future. And of course, we're focused on creating long-term value for you, our shareholders. My presentation today will address 3 main topic areas. First, I would like to talk about the main financial accomplishments in 2021, an uncertain and volatile year. Then I will share with you how we financially position ourself for future growth. And then finally, I'll discuss how we're setting the stage for long-term value creation into the upcoming decade. Let's begin with a review of our 2021 financial accomplishments. Now 2021 continued to present a challenging economic backdrop. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen inflation increase to historic levels. Supply chains around the world have been and continue to be disrupted. Now thanks to the nature of your business and regulation, we've been largely spared both here in Canada and Australia. Regardless, supply chain interruptions are high on our radar, and we continue to manage through this. To help combat the unprecedented inflation, the Bank of Canada has signaled that it'll act forcefully to tackle the problem. They raised interest rates by 50 basis points in early April. This is the first time that they made a increase of this magnitude in over 20 years. Now the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates at each of their meetings so far this year and have indicated that rates are likely to rise aggressively in the near term. Thankfully, your company is still well-positioned for growth against this backdrop. We have significant cash and liquidity and have locked in low-cost and long-term debt. We've also had a long history of maintaining access to the capital markets. And in fact, we've had to weather various economic or regulatory storms throughout the decades. As you know, our investments are largely focused on regulated utilities and long contracted businesses with strong counterparties. This has been a key foundation for us. It provides resiliency through the most challenging of times. And as you could see here, we can deliver results across difficult periods, whether it was a global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 or the commodity price drop in 2015. And now it's the COVID-19 pandemic. We have proven time and time again, we can successfully deliver on any economic and regulatory cycles. Turning now to our earnings for 2021. Despite lingering pressure of the pandemic, I'm happy to report that 2021 adjusted earnings increased by $51 million or 9.5% from the previous year. What incredible results. So why was that? Let's look at some of the key drivers showing. One main driver was LUMA Energy. LUMA's earnings of $44 million increased by $32 million from the prior year. This exceptional performance was largely due to getting operations up and running in June of last year. Since taking over operations, our team has made tremendous progress. And Nancy's going to touch on that in her presentation. We expect LUMA to continue to be a meaning contributor of earnings and cash flows for us. Now although energy infrastructure earnings remain consistent at $28 million year-over-year, we secured key contracts and made significant strides on our energy transition strategy. Highlights include announcing 3 new solar projects, beginning work on a renewable natural gas opportunity, acquiring an energy storage facility as well as progressing numerous hydrogen developments, such as our partnership with Suncor. Yes, we are heavily investing in this area as we see it as strong growth platform for us in the future. In addition to LUMA, our natural gas distribution business in Australia also had an exceptional year, contributing $34 million to the year-over-year increase in earnings. Favorable inflation trends in Australia, increased customer throughput, together with cost efficiencies were the main contributors. Finally, rounding out the list is our utilities in Alberta. Our transmission companies results reflect both a pass-through of previously implemented cost efficiencies into lower customer rates as well as a number of prior period regulatory adjustments, while our distribution businesses continued to benefit from the cost efficiency programs. Overall, we are truly proud of these results and proud of our people who delivered service excellence across the business. Now I want to go back to the utilities and touch on an important regulatory area, performance-based regulation, or PBR for short. 2022 is a watershed year for both of our Alberta distribution utilities. It marks the final year of their second PBR turn. The basic principle of PBR is that companies are incented to find cost efficiencies. The Alberta Utility Commission has appropriately recognized the value of providing incentives to these companies as these incentives translate into long-term value for customers. The value of customer -- the value to customers occurs at the end of the PBR cycle when rates are reset with the lower ongoing cost base. Now this slide shows how well we've done to drive down costs for customers. This is important given rising utility bills, driven mainly by commodity prices, extreme weather and the carbon tax. In our electricity business, you could see the results. Translated into 2021 equivalent dollars, maintenance cost per kilometer of line has been reduced by 17% over the past 6 years. Likewise, in our natural gas business, we've also reduced our operating cost per customer by 19% over the same period, and we continue to be the lowest cost provider in Canada. We are proud of our ability and of our people to find and execute on efficiencies across the business. It is a core strength of ours and is central to our business. It drives long-term value for customers and near-term earnings for shareholders. Now we'll move on to the next topic, financial strength. As shown on this slide, we maintain a substantial amount of liquidity and plan on continuing to do so. Our access to capital markets remains strong, secure, high-quality names such as ourselves continue to be in high demand. Our recent preferred share and debenture issues last year are proof of this. Both issues were oversubscribed and closed at very favorable rates. Needless to say, the low cost of financing is good for us and very good for our customers. Our ongoing commitment to sound fiscal stewardship is supported by our conservative financial discipline and prudent capital management. We're proud to be rated by 3 major agencies as investment grade. CU Inc., our largest debt issuer, continues to be A rated. We have ambitious plans for growth, and I'm happy to say that we have the financial capacity to do so. Now this slide never gets old. We've increased our common share dividend every year for the past 50 years, the longest track record of any Canadian publicly traded company. We're very proud of this achievement, and we'll continue to grow our dividend consistent with the growth of our underlying investments. Next, I want to touch on value creation. It is clear that our leading dividend increases provide income for our investors. Our earnings growth helps provide capital gains. These 2 facets of the equation mean that we deliver impressive total shareholder return year after year. If we look at the 20-year annualized total shareholder return, we can see that we created a lot of value for our shareholders. In fact, over the last 20 years, we've outperformed the S&P 500 Utility Index by 70 basis points and the S&P TSX Composite by 130 basis points. We've done all of this by keeping a key eye on costs and remaining focused on invention. Okay, let's look beyond -- let's look forward to what lays beyond 2021. And as you can see, we're off to a great start in 2022. In the first quarter this year, we've achieved adjusted earnings of $290 million, $28 million higher than the prior year. This $28 million increase was a result of strong performance in our utilities and especially our natural gas distribution business here in Alberta. It is the final year of the current PBR cycle and our gas business saw an increase of $18 million. This was largely driven by continued cost efficiencies, rate base growth as well as timing of certain expenditures. Our LUMA operations also contributed to higher first quarter earnings. LUMA's earnings increased by $6 million, more than doubling from the same period last year. And finally, we benefited by the earnings contributions from our recent acquisition of the Alberta natural gas storage hub, which is performing very well for us. Overall, we are delighted that our businesses carried the momentum from 2021 into a great start for 2022. As we look to 2022 and beyond, our company sits on top a core foundation of earnings and dividends from our utility companies. We see future growth by investing in assets in industries where we can ply our world-renown expertise. An example of this is LUMA, a great capital-light business. We beat out some of the largest companies in the world to secure the largest ever federally funded project in U.S. history to rebuild critical infrastructure for a better Puerto Rico. This foundation is complemented by investments that provide diversification and higher growth opportunities, such as renewables and clean energy. This combination creates a more resilient energy portfolio and enables us to continue to play a leading role in the energy transition. Finally, our financial capacity allows us to access the capital markets to fund these key initiatives and to continue on our growth trajectory. Now we cannot talk about the future without also talking about sustainability. The 2 simply go hand in hand. It is inseparable from our vision of delivering inspired solutions for a better world. From decarbonizing energy to advancing indigenous reconciliation, we are uniquely positioned to deliver truly sustainable solutions. We have made extraordinary progress in recent years. Since 2005, we reduced our direct GHG emissions within our portfolio by 96%. For the sake of comparison over the same period, Canada's overall national emissions decreased by just over 1%. We have established 2030 targets that are shown here, which demonstrates our commitment, and we've also committed to net zero by 2050 and are working with all levels of government to advocate for enabling policy and regulation. Now ESG is more than just reducing one's impact on the environment. Our operations around the world have a meaningful economic impact on hundreds of communities. And this is through the jobs we create, the goods and services we purchase, our commitment to indigenous reconciliation and capacity building. And we are certainly proud of the impact we've had on communities that we're so privileged to serve. In closing, over the past year, we have intensified our focus on strengthening our foundation. And we've leveraged our world-class capabilities to grow and diversify into new markets. These efforts, combined with our conservative financial discipline and pursuit of operational excellence, were the basis for the strong financial performance in 2021. As we look beyond, we see a bright future. What a great time it is to work for Canadian Utilities. With our research and expertise in areas such as hydrogen, renewable electricity generation and energy storage, we believe we are well-positioned to play a key role in the energy transition. Not only does this protect our core business, it also provides for a continued growth platform for our company. So that concludes my remarks today, and I'll now turn over the mic back to your Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Nancy.

Thank you, Brian. That was a terrific presentation. And now I'd like to focus a little bit on the operational highlights against a backdrop that we're all too well aware of. The world has been fixated on the pandemic, and rightly so. But as a result, we have had little time to address and consider the macro trends that are unfolding and gathering strength as a perfect storm forms around us. 2021 saw nations commit to some of the most ambitious climate targets to-date. And yet, over the past few months, with supply chain and trade disruptions paired with pent-up demand, geopolitical turmoil in general, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine specifically, we find the world has spiraled into an energy crisis and laid bare a very big dilemma. Our world remains very dependent on fossil fuels. And while we must fight climate change, cleaner sources of energy do not yet provide the affordability and reliability we need. Adding further complication to the energy transition, is, as Brian mentioned, a lack of clear policy and regulatory requirements. In some regions, this has begun to erode support for decarbonization, a perilous outcome as the world is committed to a net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050. Much has been made of the extraordinary scale of the energy transition and for good reason. How electrons and molecules are created and how they move through our systems, how they're stored and, ultimately, how they are used is all changing. Concerns over the climate have prompted a panoply of far-reaching seemingly disconnected overlapping multilevel government policies. And while the ambitions of policymakers continue to grow, regulators have struggled to keep up. Bridging this gap will require open and honest dialogue with indigenous communities and with industry. It cannot be done in isolation. And for some, the scope and scale of the energy transition seems far too daunting. Some believe it's impossible but not us, not Canadian utilities. We often refer to our long track record of operational excellence and financial strength. And I'm going to take you on a little bit of a journey. What truly drives our people is the purposeful courage to affect positive change. With a track record dating back more than 100 years here in this province, we've already shaped the evolution of the energy sector in hundreds of communities around the world more than once. We began in 1911 when the Canadian Western Natural Gas Light and Power company began piping natural gas from Bow Island and the Turner Valley region into Southern Alberta communities. Now this may seem like a very modest start by today's technological standards. But to the people we served, it was revolutionary, and the prosperity it created was historic. And in the interceding decades, we have brought heat and light to homes and businesses for the very first time, not just in Western Canada, but right across Canada's North. We've powered the growth of entire economies, delivering reliable, sustainable and affordable energy that fueled innovation and industry. Simply put, our business has always been about enabling energy transition. And in the net zero world, Canadian Utilities will continue to be a leader. Of course, achieving net zero by 2050, as I've already mentioned, is a societal challenge that no individual business or government can solve on its own. It will require unprecedented collaboration among all constituents and a pragmatic affordable road map from policymakers to unlock the required scale of investment. It will also require fourth right acknowledgment that there is no one size fits all. There is no one-size-fits-all formula to achieve decarbonization. We must pursue many pathways simultaneously if we are to achieve our looming emissions goals without sacrificing affordability or reliability. Now it does bear mentioning that reliability is far more than a utility buzzword. It comes up very often. It's bandied about by policymakers and academics, often as an afterthought. But make no mistake, reliability is a matter of public safety. Take the last week of December, this past year here in Alberta when Alberta's temperatures plunged to minus 37, both heating and electricity demand were near record highs. For that whole week, Alberta's wind facilities in solar operated -- well, the wind operated at just 12% capacity and in fact, during periods of peak winter demand, the availability of wind and solar in this province is consistently below 10%. All of us here in Alberta have experienced when it gets super cold, there is no wind. In the middle of winter with short sunlight hours, we don't have solar electricity. Now imagine the impacts to our society, to hospitals, schools, retirement centers and hospices if our grid were to fail due to this intermittency in the midst of such a cold snap. Reliability is equal to public safety. And now consider the implications of electrifying heat through renewable electricity. Alberta's electricity system has approximately 16 gigawatts of installed capacity, and it serves a seasonal peak demand of about 12 gigawatts. That's on the electrical side. But consider that on the coldest winter days, our peak heating demand for natural gas is the equivalent of nearly 50 megawatts of electricity -- or gigawatts, excuse me, gigawatts, more than 3x greater than Alberta's entire installed generation capacity. Make no mistake, cleaner sources of electricity will drive the energy transmission -- transition. And the rapid adoption of solar and wind will transform how electricity is produced around the world. But we must explore all avenues, electrification is not a simple answer. It's not the only answer. Using the production of cleaner fuels and cleaner electricity, critical energy infrastructure and operating the utilities of the future are all part of a solution that we are all hoping to achieve. Renewable energy is enjoying unprecedented momentum, for sure. And through to 2026, not too far away, renewables will account for 95% of global growth in generation, with solar providing more than half of that, and we will be and are positioned at the forefront of that growth. In September, of this past year, 2021, we announced 2 new solar installations in Calgary with a combined capacity of 64 megawatts of electricity. Now these projects are actually the largest solar installations inside a major Western Canadian city. And combined with our other solar initiatives, it will give us more than 100 megawatts in our portfolio, putting us well on our way to our target of 1,000 megawatts by 2030. We're also pursuing several exciting projects in our home away from home, Australia. Australia has some of the best renewable resources in the world, but some of its sunniest and windiest places aren't well connected to existing infrastructure. All told, it's estimated that the opportunity for total infrastructure in Australia's clean electricity market is over $27 billion. And we see this as fitting right into the sweet spot of Canadian Utilities' skill sets. And I look forward to providing you with more information on some of our projects down under in the very near future. Now while accelerated investment in renewable power is critical, as I mentioned, is not a silver bullet. In certain applications and in certain jurisdictions, electrification, as I've said, is neither technically nor economically feasible. In these instances, cleaner energy dense fuels are required, and hydrogen is the fuel of choice. Hydrogen will play a key role in transitioning Canada's vibrant energy sector to a low-carbon future. I think we're all familiar with the fact that Alberta's oil and gas industry contributes nearly $100 billion annually to the provincial and Canadian economies. It is a very important industry for Canada. But in Alberta, they also account for 70% of Alberta's emissions. By using our natural gas to produce hydrogen as a feedstock, we can ensure that this vital to Canada industry, doesn't simply survive but actually thrives in the decarbonized world. If you take, for example, our proposed clean energy hydrogen project we announced last year with Suncor, that project will produce more than 300,000 tons per year of clean hydrogen, while capturing more than 95% of the carbon emissions, actually reducing Alberta's CO2 emissions by more than 2 million tons annually. This project is no small task, and it requires many aspects to come together sequentially and simultaneously as both Canadian Utilities and Suncor work in concert to achieve commissioning by 2028. And one of the major aspects of the project is CO2 sequestration. I'm pleased to say that just a few weeks ago, the government of Alberta announced that our proposed sequestration project with Shell, Indigenous Partners and Suncor has been selected to progress to the next stage. The Atlas Hub, as it's called, would serve Alberta's Industrial Heartland, providing permanent subsurface carbon storage for industrial users in the Heartland, and it will be an open access hub format. Now another step underway for this project -- we're not just talking about the project, we're actually making progress in doing things. Another step is that drilling for core sampling has been undertaken to prove out hydrogen storage in the salt caverns of the heartland. These core samples are currently being reviewed by government-approved labs in the United States for their robustness. And just this morning, I'm not sure if you all had a chance to see, but we announced we are building 2 hydrogen production refueling facilities here in Alberta for Canadian Pacific's hydrogen locomotive program. This is for use as another commercial transportation fuel. While cleaner fuels and electricity are essential to net zero, they are not the only part of the equation. This energy also requires a cost-effective conduit to reach customers. And in that respect, our natural gas utilities and electric utilities are playing a very key role. In ATCO Gas, we are leveraging our clean fuel expertise in our first of its kind, Fort Saskatchewan hydrogen blending project. The project will blend 5% hydrogen into our distribution system and will be Canada's largest hydrogen blend for customers, serving 2,000 homes who will be the first in the province to use hydrogen blended natural gas. And over the long term, we envision providing hydrogen to all of our customers across Alberta, which is a far more cost-effective way to provide reliable alternative energy for decarbonizing heat then electricity is. In Western Australia, we're also growing our hydrogen footprint, where we continue to build on our work at the Clean Energy Hub in Western Australia. We've successfully tested a 10% hydrogen blend at our major pilot project at the depot in Jandakot, Perth -- near Perth. And in 2021, we secured milestone-based funding from the Western Australia government to enable blending into 2,500 homes within our network. The WA Australia state government has set a target of 10% blend by 2030. Now back here in Alberta, we're working towards a totally integrated smart electrical grid. And you've all heard about smart grids. What are they? Well, this smart grid is going to allow residential customers and commercial customers to accept and produce renewable energy in the future. In Grand Prairie, our electric distribution division recently replaced more than 30,000 traditional electric meters with advanced metering infrastructure. They're called AMI. Using 2-way communication, these meters digitally record and report customer consumption in real time. With this step now complete, we've begun a pilot program that provides energy consumption data and pricing data to these customers, helping them decide when they use electricity at what price. The next step then is for government and our regulator to allow residential and commercial customers to sell their self-generated electricity from assets like rooftop solar back into the grid. The next project that we'll be conducting is on automated meters is going to be in Lloydminster very shortly. Now our expertise in operating world-class utilities, Brian mentioned LUMA quite a bit, and some of you may not be familiar with LUMA. But this expertise is making a real difference in Puerto Rico. LUMA, which is jointly owned by Canadian Utilities and Quanta Services, was created to transition Puerto Rico's aged and dilapidated grid into one that is resilient and reliable. Since LUMA assumed operations last June, and despite significant political and infrastructure challenges, the team has remained focused on improving the infrastructure, providing better customer service and supporting renewable energy adoption in Puerto Rico. Now admittedly, the political environment is even more difficult than we had anticipated, and the infrastructure is in an alarming state of disrepair. So the fix is not going to happen overnight. However, the U.S. federal government, FEMA and the Federal Oversight Management Board, has made it clear that in order for Puerto Rico to receive the $10 billion of FEMA funding over a 15-year contract, it must be applied through a bona fide third party. ATCO, Canadian Utilities, Quanta, were selected against 3 of the top international utilities in the world. Calling the company LUMA, drawing from our own expertise, our very own Wayne Symington, is acting as CEO of LUMA. Along with his great team, they are doing remarkable things. They're already delivering shorter wait times for customers visiting or calling its customer service centers. And in the last quarter, LUMA representatives answered calls 94% faster on average, and customer wait times were less than 1 minute. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't interruptions. There are blackouts there still, and some of them are pretty major. But at least now customers know where they are, when they could be expecting to get back online with their power and how long it will take. And prior to LUMA coming into Puerto Rico, that was not the case. In addition to improvements in customer service, we are also improving customer connections to renewable energy. And in less than 1 year, we've increased renewable energy capacity by 42%, connecting more than 17,000 customers with rooftop solar, representing an additional 95 megawatts of distributed generation on the island. And while there is much more work to do in just a short period of time, our commitment to doing what is best for our customers is already having an impact. And across all of our utilities, we are focused on providing sustainable, reliable and especially affordable energy services. And this is particularly important against the backdrop, as Brian mentioned, of rising inflation, higher interest rates, dramatic increases in energy commodity pricing and supply chain disruptions. While our rates are not immune to these global pressures, we're committed to mitigating rising costs wherever we can. Now as Brian mentioned, ATCO Gas here in Alberta provides the lowest monthly distribution charge to residential customers for natural gas compared to similar companies right across North America. And it's important to understand, because all of us here are actually users of either ATCO Gas or ATCO Electric in some form or fashion. It's important to understand that distribution and transmission charges from our companies are just 2 of many charges that appear on customers' bills. In fact, many of these costs are set by others, including the federal carbon tax as well as franchise fees imposed by municipalities, and administrative costs for the AUC. We're equally focused on affordability within our electric utility operations, and there's been a lot of discussion in Alberta about utility bills. Though the nature of our service territory for ATCO Electric presents extremely unique challenges, and I'd like to describe that for you. ATCO Electric's distribution network is unlike electric transmission. The cost for electric transmission are shared equally across the province. So in other words, ATCO Electric, AltaLink and other companies' transmission costs are all blended together and shared across all customers in the province as one rate. That is not the case for distribution costs. They're shared only by customers in each respective company's service territory. And this creates an uneven playing field and a cost disadvantage for ATCO Electric's distribution customers. They're shared only by customers in the service territory. So ATCO Electric maintains a vast system, all of the blue color you see on the graph, across some of Alberta's most difficult and challenging trends -- terrain. Our power line stretched from Fort [indiscernible] to [indiscernible], Lloydminster to Grand Cache, delivering electricity to nearly 240 communities and rural areas. In fact, we service about 2/3 of Alberta's land area, but we only have 13% of the population in our distribution area. With fewer customers to share the cost of the system and longer distances between customers, rates are inevitably higher. And when compared to the province's major cities, serviced by ENMAX and EPCOR and Fortis, they're extraordinarily high. Within our service territory, there are less than 4 customers per kilometer of line that are able to share the costs. And while EPCOR here in Edmonton has nearly 78 customers per kilometer of line to share the cost. You can see there's a complete disparity, an unlevel playing field and a true disadvantage for ATCO Electric's distribution customers. Now despite these unique challenges over the past 6 years, we have reduced our operations and maintenance costs per kilometer of line, and Brian has mentioned this already, but done so in distribution by 17% over the past 6 years and by 36% on our transmission costs. We will continue to pursue ways to drive down costs for our customers, and we're actively involved in discussions with all levels of government and the regulator in trying to sort out this disadvantage. While advancing the energy transition is an imperative order of the highest magnitude, it is not the only societal challenge we're working to solve. We're resolute in our commitment to advance indigenous reconciliation and to continue growing the more than 50 indigenous partnerships that we maintain. In August of last year, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and Canadian Utilities announced the completion of Canada's most northerly off-grid solar project, reducing diesel use by nearly 190,000 liters annually. This project is in Old Crow, Yukon. It showcases the first of its kind electricity purchase agreement. Vuntut Gwitchin will serve as the independent power producer, owner and operator of the facility, and ATCO Electric, Yukon will purchase the electricity for the next 25 years and feed it into the grid. Also in Canada's North, just last quarter, we concluded an agreement with our long-standing partners, Denendeh Investments Incorporated, or DII. That transaction was able to increase DII's ownership interest to Northland Utilities from 14% to 50%. I'd like to offer my congratulations to Darrell Beaulieu, the CEO of Denendeh Investments. Darrell works tirelessly to create long-term prosperity for the Dene people of the Northwest territories. And for over 35 years, Northland Utilities has been part owned by Denendeh Investments, representing 27 Dene First Nations across the Northwest territories. As with indigenous communities, our respect and gratitude to have the privilege to work and live in all communities around the world requires our standard of excellence. It requires us to do more than anyone expects of us and truly care about the people of our communities. And with the combined efforts of our employees around the world, we pledged last year, nearly $3 million to support hundreds of important causes through our annual ATCO EPIC campaign, and that takes this program's cumulative fundraising to $50 million since 2006. And none of our achievements would be possible without the integrity, the courage, resilience and compassion of the people of your company in Canadian Utilities. Our collective purpose to make the world a better place through the delivery of improving essential service solutions is our commitment. And I thank each and every one of our Canadian Utilities' team for their determination and their courage. I also want to thank members of our executive team, especially Brian Shkrobot, who was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer this past year. You've done a fantastic job, Brian. I also want to thank again our incredible Board of Directors. Their expertise and counsel this past year and through some extraordinarily trying times has been remarkable. And to you, our shareowners, our partners, our friends, thank you for your continued belief in us. And now I will open the floor for questions that any of you may have. Did I do it wrong again? Wayne, Wayne Stensby, did I do your name wrong again? I apologize. Wayne Stensby, our CEO of LUMA. I apologize. Oh my gosh, I said the wrong name. Wayne is doing a super job. Thank you, Wayne. Yes, Doug.

My name is Doug Hornbeck, and I'm a proud B Class, C Class, D Class shareholder. I would wonder if the Board would consider having a B class shareholder attend a committee meeting. It would be a chance for most people that they would never ever have to join an atmosphere of a major world company. The attendee may share an opinion or even give a chance to ask a question or 2. My other question would be, could the advertising department consider getting the story of the company to the masses. I remember years ago when [indiscernible] were a house. It was removed if everything related to oil, gas, and if you put electricity and water in there, and I can't remember if the gentleman was even left with any clothes on. When you think of how this company affects the world, it's incredible, and we need to get this -- these numbers, we -- you see them and I see them and -- but I don't think the masses understand just how great CU is. So that's my questions.

Doug, thank you very much for that. And I agree with you on the marketing front. We have not done the best job of telling our story. And you met Becky Penrice earlier in the formal part of the meeting, our new Chief Administration Officer, who is working with myself and the executive team to develop much better communications about the story of our company. And so thank you very much for that. I believe it's important. I think it also has -- will have an impact on the share price, which we were talking about a little earlier this morning. I'm happy to show you that, that long-term return is quite extraordinary and stands apart from all other companies within the TSX right now. And that also is part of the story that we need to tell. Now in terms of the committee meetings for B class shareowners, I don't see any problem with attending. I'm not sure which committees, but I'm going to actually -- I'm going to ask Roger -- or Dr. Roger Urwin, our Lead Director, to perhaps comment on the types of meetings that might be possible or appropriate for the B Class shareholders.

Thank you, Nancy. That was -- I don't think it's called a curve ball, is it? I do think, I mean, I would say from the outset that I think that suggestion of involving -- the possibility of involving our shareholders. It's your company. And we are guardians of this company on your behalf. A number of the meetings we have are really quite technical, and I'm not insulting anybody's technical capacity. We would have to be, I think, quite careful with how we did that, but certainly coming in as an observer and able to ask a question, I think, will be something that we can really look at very, very closely. I'm not entirely sure. We all as directors have a variety of meetings, some with individual divisions, which may be of interest and some more broadly. And I think we can immediately find some opportunities for some participation in those provided, of course, that we don't end up with confidentiality matters and other such things. So I think those things we have to be aware of. But generally speaking, I think it's a terrific idea of involvement of shareholders. We have some terrific facilities, as you know, that we are developing and have in my past, had a number of shareholders and giving them the opportunities of seeing some of our activities on the ground, which I think is also an excellent opportunity to get an understanding. I mean, you can see these wonderful pictures of our people and of our facilities, but I can assure you, for us and for you, there would be no comparison with the understanding and insights you get into the complexity and the commitment of everyone in this business if we perhaps thought about the odd visit for our shareholders. So I think those are my immediate observations, Nancy.

I think that's great. Doug, thank you for bringing that up. And we will definitely undertake to make sure that we find a way. I think, for sure, the physical facilities, if you went to just north of here in the Heartland, Melanie's DC converter station, it is incredible the complexity of that project or Bob Myles' salt cavern storage facilities. I think that also would help give you a much better understanding of the business. So that -- we'll take that away, and stay in touch. Thank you for that. Anything else? Kurt, Mr. Kadatz?

Thank you, Nancy. Yes, we do have a number of questions coming in through the Lumi webcast, a number of employee/shareowner questions. This one here is about hydrogen and hydrogen blending. A question from Ashley Bill Green, who asks, we are wanting to bring hydrogen blending to all of Alberta, can you tell us more about the time line and who will pay for this?

And who will?

Who will pay for this?

Yes. It's -- that's a great question, Ashley. As I mentioned, the Suncor project is we are striving to commission by 2028. So that's not too far off. And we really are determined to hit that deadline. We already have the majority of that hydrogen committed to. So 65% of the 300,000 tons I mentioned that are produced annually, 65% of that will go directly into Suncor's refinery and cogeneration in the Heartland. We have other customers that we'll be taking that on, but it is going to take some time to develop the infrastructure to deliver all of the hydrogen required, we'll be able to put, as I mentioned, hydrogen into the natural gas pipeline to blend hydrogen for customers. And both the federal government and the provincial government recognize that there is going to -- there is a need to have special different types of grants or underpinnings for a lot of these projects. And I think for Alberta, if we think back to, I guess, the early days of development, whether it was Bow Island and the Turner Valley or whether it was the oil sands, both federal and governments recognized that there had to be support and incentive to get these energy transitions done. And that's exactly the same case today. I don't know what the economics are going to look like. I do know that carbon pricing is going to play a major role in making the economics go around. So if we have $170 carbon tax, it is probably going to be more economic to use blended hydrogen then straight natural gas. And so we're still working through all of these things, and that's why I said at the outset, it's so important to have open and honest dialogue, multilevel governments need to sit down with indigenous communities and industry to sort this out so that we get it right. And if we get it right, Canada has the most wonderful opportunity to be the #1 exporter of hydrogen for use around the world, another great export commodity for us. So we must get it right. We must work hard and collaboratively to do this. And I can't give you an answer, Ashley, on what the price will look like, but I know that the costs are going to have to be shared across multilevels of participation. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Nancy. We'll go to another question on the line, if there's none in the room. The -- just a quick comment. Donna Humphreys, who is a shareowner, I believe, and certainly was our corporate librarian for a number of years, had a question she asked about LUMA, but Nancy, you ended up covering her offer questions during the update. So she was appreciative of your updates. So thank you. A question here from Damian Bolingbroke, who's an investor as well. He wonders if there are any further partnerships with oil and gas producers that you foresee in the future?

Yes, and in various different ways. Sorry, what was the name again?

Damian.

Damian. We've had many, many partnerships over the decades with the oil and gas producers. Shell, for a very long time, we provided cogeneration to their oil sand site and their refinery. Alex Pourbaix is here from Cenovus. I look forward to finding a way as a way to work directly with Cenovus, which we have in the past. And through Cenovus' acquisition of a number of other assets and companies, we've actually serendipitously provide cogeneration for some of those installations. Alex is a terrific board member and has great insight into how the oil and gas industry is looking at decarbonization and their sustainability portfolio. And I believe we can all work together. We've worked together for many years, and I look forward to many new opportunities with our incredible oil and gas industry in the future. Thank you, Kurt. Any other questions here in the room? Siegfried, welcome. Nice to see you. And Brian Bale, nice to see Brian here. And Seth. Sarah, did you have a question? Oh, it's like an auction. You don't want to raise your hand. And Kurt, there's nothing more online? Oh, 2 more. Okay. Please go ahead.

We have a couple of more, and let's just cover those off. Thank you, Nancy. This one is from Gina Zambor, who is an employee, shareowner. She says that you have mentioned this goal of net zero by 2050, among other ESG targets, can you please share your view of how getting to net zero is achievable? That was from Gina.

Yes. Gina, I hope that I described that well at the beginning of my presentation that it will require many different solutions. There cannot be one size fits all. We haven't figured it all out yet whether -- it's the global community or our micro communities. There's a lot of work yet to do. I do believe we can get there. I think that -- and I believe that there's a lot of very earnest people striving to find the solutions. After we actually address the energy situation, we're going to have to find a way to incorporate other industries like agriculture. Agriculture is kind of on the back burner, not as at the forefront as energy, but we need to resolve a lot of problems in terms of climate with agriculture. We all need to continue eating. And even though we're talking about the energy crisis. Because of the Russian invasion, we actually may have a very dire food crisis in the coming years because of the disruption of grains coming out of the Ukraine and Russia. If we're going to expand production and utilize our lands to optimize food production, including cattle, hogs, sheep and chicken, we aren't all going to go to plant-based food. We need to really be working with energy and with governments to get those solutions put in place so that it doesn't become extraordinarily taxing in terms of costs for all of us. Gina, all to say, I look forward to working with you. If you have solutions, please, please, let's hear about them. There -- we'll find them, we'll find them, but it is going to take hard work. And as I said, there's no silver bullet to any of this. Next question, Kurt.

Great. Last one here, Nancy, on the line, from Christy Simpson. Who says, good morning, can you tell us a little bit more about how the CP announcement furthers Canadian Utilities' hydrogen aspirations? And I believe Bob Myles might even be in the room here.

Yes. I'll let Bob Myles, who's our Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, he's very close to this new award. But I will say what's really exciting about it. Bob, you can have a mic. Go ahead. What's really exciting is that we're starting to see demand naturally develop for hydrogen within the province, so we're getting a fully integrated economy. Long-haul trucking, we were talking about that earlier, rail transportation, energy and our -- we were talking about that. Energy blending in our utilities. Go ahead, Bob. You can do a much better job than I.

You're well on your way. So thanks, Christy, I think. So one of the things we really looked at with hydrogen, and Nancy has alluded to this, is really 4 key customer groups: one is the utilities, so blending into the utilities; two is reducing emissions with our industrial demands; three, really looking at the long-haul transportation sector; and four being export. And the CP announcement is really our first step into the long-haul transportation. So it's building refueling stations with CP. So the rail business, but we really see that as the first step into a national program of hydrogen for transportation for the long-haul transport. So that's really how we see it fit. It aligns quite nicely with what we're doing in Australia as well. So thanks, Christy.

Sharon, any questions? I'm sorry. [indiscernible].

I have to be honest, I'm not a shareholder, but I'm a stakeholder, I guess, you can say. So the first thing that comes to mind today is I just want to acknowledge, CU, ATCO, for the first thing you said today, which was acknowledging a difficult conversation in terms of some of the recent penalties in Jasper area. And less of a question, more of a comment in that, I hope CU and ATCO realize that for every Jasper unfortunate incident, there are way more Old Crows, way more [indiscernible] on the roads, way more partnerships in Fort McMurray, way more partnerships in Australia. And even during COVID, the most like visible -- one of the most visible things that happened in indigenous communities was ATCO Structures, trailers going in and being safe places for people that needed to isolate. So just my hats off to this company for its reconciliation [ action ] plan. And I hope it's not -- I hope the company doesn't take that as like a -- more of a - I hope it takes it as more of a bump in the roads. So I see tremendous futures in hydrogen, this week in Edmonton has been amazing. I'm encouraged to learn more about the Atlas project, not something specifically my First Nation is partnering with, but I hope the door is not closed in terms of other -- maybe it's not the production of hydrogen, but even some of the long-haul trucking, the CP Rail that goes from here to -- or a whole bunch of other places down to Mexico, CN, that type of stuff. And the last thing I'll say is just thank you to ATCO. 12 years ago and 20 pounds ago, that's where I started my internship. So thank you.

Thank you, [indiscernible]. I appreciate that, and I commit to you and all of the communities, indigenous or not that we work with that we will not make the same mistakes. And I really appreciate your trust, and I'm glad to hear that we have made a difference for you. And there is lots of room for indigenous partnerships in all of these projects that we are undertaking during the energy transition. Thank you very much. It's been a bit of a long morning, and I always apologize at our in-person AGMs for the length of time the meeting takes, but I enjoy seeing you all so very much and appreciate your in-person commitment to being here. Ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned, and I look forward to seeing you again next year. Thank you.