Natural Resources committee  I am coming to that. This program has actually been a success; the impact on the competitiveness of the industry and the environmental performance has been and will be significant. There are also other forestry sector programs that are due to expire, including market expansion and innovation.

Natural Resources committee  I appreciate the challenge it can be sometimes for parliamentarians to look at main estimates versus main estimates and to interpret increases or decreases, because there can be different factors at play. In some cases, for example, what appears as a decrease is actually relative to a number that it was last year, not in main estimates but in supplementary estimates.

Natural Resources committee  I've got it here, if you'll allow me. There are actually 19 demonstration projects, apart from the carbon capture and storage. The carbon capture and storage that we've announced, where funds are committed, are the Shell Quest project, which is carbon capture and storage in an upgrader in Alberta; the Project Pioneer, which would be essentially using carbon capture and storage technology in a coal-fired power plant; and the Alberta trunk line, which would essentially fund a pipeline to stimulate enhanced total recovery and at the same time carbon sequestration.

Natural Resources committee  We're looking at demonstrating technologies in these programs. Certainly, even internationally, when the International Energy Agency has looked at how carbon could be reduced in the world, there is a very substantial portion in its scenarios that is most aggressive in terms of reduction of GHGs that count on this technology.

Natural Resources committee  It certainly is a worthwhile investment to test technology.

Natural Resources committee  What is sometimes referred to as “tax expenditures” are reported by the Department of Finance typically on an annual basis. I don't have those numbers with me, and there is always a lot of debate about what a tax expenditure is versus what is quite simply a recognition of an expense to earn income.

Natural Resources committee  Domestic gasoline prices...?

Natural Resources committee  Fundamentally, Canada's gasoline prices.... We've had officials from my department come to testify before this committee around gasoline prices and around refining capacity. There's a wide range of factors that take place that affect gasoline prices over time, from the price of crude oil internationally and the North American market, refining margins, retailing margins, provincial taxes, and so forth.

Natural Resources committee  If you're asking if the department has done any specific study to essentially connect one to one the Brent and WTI differential to gasoline prices in Canada, the answer, to my knowledge, would be no. Again, gasoline prices respond to quite a range of market factors, international, domestic, and from both upstream and downstream parts of the sector.

Natural Resources committee  I was responding to a specific question as to whether we had a study that would tie the differential between WTI and Brent to the price of gasoline. My answer to that was no.

Natural Resources committee  Again, we don't purport to try to project or forecast gasoline prices.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. Actually, the information is quite transparent there for parliamentarians. If one turns to page 260 of the main estimates, if those are handy to the members of the committee, Mr. Chair, you will see there the major categories of transfers that include grants and contributions.

Natural Resources committee  Sure, and if you'll allow me just to flip to...so I can be a bit more precise about it—or not. It's going to be easier if I don't go through all the paper. Essentially, the clean energy fund was a $1 billion five-year program. When it was introduced over five years, it would have been at $200 million each year.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not recall the record, sir, showing the minister would have committed to launching a national energy strategy. There were a number of parties across Canada asking for such a strategy. The minister met with his counterparts from the provinces and territories in Kananaskis at a meeting that he co-chaired with Mr.

Natural Resources committee  I'm saying that there is work proceeding on a range of energy issues, collaboratively with provinces and territories. Government was very clear in its statement in Kananaskis that governments share a wide range of objectives with regard to energy. We're working collaboratively, respectful of each one's jurisdiction.