Transport committee  Thank you for the question. Just to clarify, what I had said was that we used to talk about 30 years of supply; we now talk about more than 100 years of supply. The reason we talk about more than 100 years of supply is that unconventional supplies across North America have come into the marketplace.

Transport committee  It's based on current consumption levels. However, there are a couple of things to consider. Domestic consumption, for instance, has dropped in the last eight years by well over 10% because we've become more and more efficient in our use of natural gas. Countering the prospect of more market share is the reality of more efficient use.

Transport committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for the opportunity to be here. I will make my presentation in English, since my French is not very good, but you may ask questions in French. I will give an overview presentation on natural gas and natural gas in transportation in Canada.

Finance committee  I'm not familiar with the specifics of the example the honourable member is talking about. We're on the distribution side of the spectrum. Our interest is in enhanced relations with customers who are using energy and a better understanding of how customers are using energy. That requires that those customers have a choice in energy services and access to as many applications of energy as possible.

Finance committee  That's correct. We would argue that natural gas is the often forgotten sibling in the energy mix. We think it deserves a higher profile, because its versatility delivers extraordinary benefits to the economy and we want to highlight them.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, that's essentially right. I have a few points of clarification. We're calling it a virtual fund. It's early days. It does amount to a pooling of capital from our member companies. The focus of that capital is on demonstration and commercialization of new technologies, the idea being that by investing directly as entities that deal with customers day in and day out, we have a good sense of what customer needs are and we can direct capital to new applications that will improve the efficiency and innovation of uses for those needs.

Finance committee  Yes, thank you. QUEST is a separate organization that we were instrumental in creating. It's now an independent corporation, and many of our member companies are active in it. It is about the promotion of integrated community energy systems, which will include a variety of technologies.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll read quickly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman again, and thank you, members of the committee, for the opportunity to speak today. I'm president and CEO of the Canadian Gas Association. CGA is the voice of Canada's natural gas distribution industry, and its members are natural gas distribution companies, transmission companies, their equipment manufacturers, and other service providers.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. I'll talk about a couple. First of all, I'll talk about renewable natural gas, which is biomethane. That's the opportunity to recover natural gas from waste facilities, from biowaste. There are significant quantities of this available across the country. Our industry, right now, is looking at setting uniform standards in order to be able to bring this into the system easily and cleanly.

Natural Resources committee  I'm on the distribution end of the spectrum, so I'll speak with two voices. As a distributor, if my customers are happy with low-priced gas, then I'm happy. For the gas industry, if the prices of gas are low, people scratch their heads and ask if we're going to develop more gas or not.

Natural Resources committee  I just want to respond, Mr. Cullen, to your point on the relationship between gas renewables versus hydro and renewables. Could I just give you a hypothetical about system efficiency? I don't have the graph with me, but there was a graph from the Independent Electricity System Operator of Ontario that showed 4 p.m. one day and 4 p.m. two days later.

Natural Resources committee  We prefer to call it not a backstop but a foundation fuel, because we think it's a logical partner for wind and solar and a host of others. So, yes.

Natural Resources committee  I would agree with you. My point wasn't that there would be no public intervention.

Natural Resources committee  I would make the point that there's public intervention with almost every energy source, and there has been over the course of Canadian history. Hydro-Québec assets were not developed without public intervention. Hydro assets across the country were not developed without public intervention.

Natural Resources committee  I'm afraid I'm not, no. I'd be happy to follow up.