Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to speak today. I've a short statement on two of the specific items contained in our submission provided to the committee in July particularly of relevance to the topic that's been put to this panel—maximizing

Natural Resources committee  It can work on both. The trucking example you cite is one that's currently being used in Nova Scotia, where you have an existing franchise, a small franchise, like New Brunswick's, a relatively young natural gas distribution industry. That franchise has some small communities tha

Natural Resources committee  Pipelines are by far the most effective and safest way to move it. It all depends on whether you can position that pipeline. In the case of the Nova Scotia example, the technical and cost challenges of extending the pipeline are such that it's more cost-effective to use the CNG

Natural Resources committee  It's proceeding well. There are projects in jurisdictions across the country right now. The key driver is the affordability of the fuel. Most cogeneration projects, most projects involving biomass, and most projects involving other emerging fuels and technologies need an affordab

Natural Resources committee  The integrated natural gas market is a great strength of North America, and the prospect of natural gas coming into eastern markets from the United States is a competitive advantage for industrial, residential, and commercial consumers in those eastern markets, because the transm

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I think it is. Again, most of the Canadian population is within roughly 100 miles of the U.S. border, and there's significant density, which makes the economics of gas distribution very good. In less dense areas you need different triggers in order to bring the fuel into the

Natural Resources committee  I think it will depend really on the market. You referenced the Yukon. You're not going to have significant residential demand in the Yukon. It's tough to make the economic case for a natural gas distribution system within the Yukon. In a market like that, what you might look a

Natural Resources committee  I'd say they're also on the way up because propane is also, relatively speaking, affordable. As natural gas has become more abundant, so has propane. It's available in different markets. Certain markets will be using these products more than others. For instance, in northern Sask

Natural Resources committee  In terms of research, the question should be directed to my colleague from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, because we are the downstream association. But my view on the prospects for hydrates is that it means yet more supply, in fact significant quantities more,

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to provide remarks related to your study on market diversification. As you know, the Canadian Gas Association represents Canada's natural gas delivery industry. I put before you the map that you find on slide 2 in your package. This

Natural Resources committee  I'll throw out a couple of examples, and they actually pick up on the previous comment about innovation. There's a technology called power-to-gas, which is a technology whereby you recover the energy in intermittent renewables by using it to drive electrolysis to produce hydroge

Natural Resources committee  May I...?

Natural Resources committee  They're not mutually exclusive. I can show you how natural gas for space and water heating is significantly more affordable than space and water heating with electricity or heating oil in Canada right now. But I can also show you how we're driving for yet more efficiency, because

Natural Resources committee  But wouldn't you say that such an approach encourages consumption rather than energy efficiency—the fact that you said it brings down energy prices, which gives the signal to consumers to consume more because it's cheaper?

Natural Resources committee  My member companies are downstream utilities. They tend not to be in resource extraction or large-scale movement of resources. Much of the regulatory reform that has occurred under the federal government over the last year or so has affected our counterparts midstream and upstrea