Natural Resources committee  I appreciate the reference points and public perceptions. However, I don't think we should take those reference points as definitive for what the vehicle could be. Again, I see no reason this entity couldn't be a private sector entity. What is required for public credibility is c

Natural Resources committee  I refer to it as an independent capacity. I haven't used the word “agency” for that reason, because I'm not going to commit to a particular entity as the sole vehicle. I think that capacity needs to be independent, if I've picked up on Mr. Harvey's point. I think it needs to be s

Natural Resources committee  I see no reason why this enterprise couldn't be a private sector enterprise. We haven't committed to a public or a private entity, but there's no reason this couldn't be a private entity.

Natural Resources committee  Insofar as we're subject to a host of federal and provincial regulations and policies that compel us to present information to those federal and provincial agencies, there should be some corresponding underwriting of the cost of data collection, because there's a public interest

Natural Resources committee  Yes.

Natural Resources committee  I think the short answer is yes.

Natural Resources committee  There's a lot behind that as to what the entity would look like, how it would be structured, and how you would hammer out the details and description of the assets and resources, and so on. These aren't necessarily easy questions. They're different analyses that are brought to th

Natural Resources committee  I do.

Natural Resources committee  I suggested that a conversation occur between energy and mines ministers across the country, because I think there should be a coordinated conversation on this. I suspect that what will come out of it is some kind of common view about what the capacity should look like, and then

Natural Resources committee  We obviously have a good sense of how many customers each of our members has, and we can create a cumulative list from that. There are entities in Canada using natural gas that are not our members. Obviously, we don't have a sense of how much is being used there; we would look to

Natural Resources committee  I would underscore those points and point out that there's perhaps no better time to be looking at how to manage energy data, given that there's so much conversation about how to manage data in general in the public discourse. The principal concern would be privacy—privacy of ind

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. Mr. Chairman, I'm very interested in eating the electricity industry's lunch, if I can.

Natural Resources committee  Don't assume that my remarks suggest otherwise.

Natural Resources committee  We have common members. Both of us represent industries that are regulated monopolies, so competition between my members and, if I might be so bold as to say, competition between Mr. Bradley's members doesn't occur, because they are regulated monopolies. However, we do in fact

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, sir. If I may, I will respond in English. I highlighted the provinces, given how much energy data collection they do on their own. As for what the federal government can do independently of that, as Mr. Bradley highlighted, a series of federal agencies currently col