While the appointment of the Royal Commission had been greeted with scoffing from large swaths of the media, Canadians throughout the country responded with enthusiasm to the oppor- tunity to come and meet and discuss the nation's problems. [...] However, the commissioners were in no doubt that in the interests of political credibility, to enable the public to be heard, and also for the education of the 8 Donald S. MacDonald commissioners, we should hear the opinions, often differing, of people from all across Canada. [...] At the end of it all, with the hearings' testimony complete and the submissions received, the volumes of research and the conclu- sions distilled from it, the commissioners then had to sit many long hours agreeing on the text that embodied their conclusions. [...] In Energy, I had been the minister responsible for the National Oil Policy of 1973/1974, the incorporation of PetroCanada, the substantial investment by the federal government in Syncrude to maintain momentum in the oilsands, and Canadian participation in a price control regime for uranium exports. [...] The supporters of the concept in the private sector were concerned at the absence of advocacy to The Commission's Work and Report 11 counter the opposition to free trade building up on the public stage.