Thank you.
Honourable Chair, members of the committee, good afternoon. My name is Patrick McDonald, and I'm the manager of oil sands at CAPP.
CAPP welcomes the opportunity to provide our perspective on the reviews to the Fisheries Act. We have put in a written submission and look forward to further discussion.
I would like to start with a brief overview of CAPP and of our industry. CAPP represents Canada's upstream oil and gas sector. We have approximately 100 producing members that find and develop about 85% of Canada's petroleum resources. Our members explore for, develop, and produce natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, and oil sands throughout Canada and offshore. Our offshore projects are located between 200 and 500 kilometres offshore.
Our industry is the largest single private sector investor in Canada, investing $81 billion in 2014 and employing well over 500,000 Canadians.
Current market conditions have had a large impact on our industry over the past two years, and we are striving, in all possible aspects, to attract investment capital that is required to grow our industry. Regulatory effectiveness and efficiency are both important parts of the competitive equation, and there is little room for our industry to allow for duplication in any areas of our operation currently.
It is imperative that Canada remain competitive with other jurisdictions in the sustainable development of our resource projects, and certainty around regulatory processes can contribute to the competitiveness of jurisdictions, particularly when global opportunities exist for investment.
CAPP has been focused on three main principles related to how policy and regulation are carried out in Canada. These principles will drive to a strong regulatory regime, and as such a strong industry: accountability and transparency, balanced decision-making, and inter- and intra-agency coordination to minimize duplication.
In regard to the Fisheries Act, overall CAPP is supportive of the changes that were introduced in 2012. CAPP supports a regulatory regime, administered under the Fisheries Act, that maintains regulatory certainty, adheres to established and clear review timelines, increases Canada's competitiveness with other jurisdictions, provides clear and consistent and achievable approval conditions, and limits the potential for legal challenges.
CAPP supports maintaining focus on the application of the fisheries protection provisions of the Fisheries Act to a commercial, recreational, and aboriginal fishery, or to fish that support such a fishery, and to works that are at higher risk of resulting in serious harm to fish or their habitat. CAPP supports an application process that is balanced in scale and scope of the proposed works and not a one-size-fits-all approach. CAPP believes the current legislation has comprehensive mitigation measures to safeguard fish and fish habitat from harm, including the fisheries protection program. In summary, it does not result in any lost environmental protections.
CAPP recommends that any changes to the Fisheries Act be focused on enhanced compliance tools and further development of best practices for avoiding, mitigating, and offsetting harm to fish and fish habitat—for example, developing area-specific best practice recommendations for proponents to follow and avoid, where possible, serious harm to fish through provisions related to timing. As well, there might be the opportunity to reinstate activity-specific operational statements and/or develop new operational statements, or best practice guidelines, to guide proponents in how risks associated with routine activities can best be mitigated and managed by proponents.
Given the high degree of interest in this process from industry, academia, environmental groups, indigenous communities, and members of the public, perhaps there is an opportunity with development of these best practice guidelines or operational positions to be developed and reviewed through a transparent and collaborative process.
If changes are made to the Fisheries Act, CAPP asks that it be ensured that appropriate resourcing and planning for the transition and implementation of any of these changes be considered and addressed. This will aid in avoiding any confusion and ensure a timely transition from the current regime.
Resourcing within the department must be equipped to address any amendments, allowing for clear and specific guidance and training to staff to again support the timely transition and implementation of amendments.
As an industry, we will continue to develop responsibly and with the commitment to continuous performance improvement under regulations that will deliver the outcomes Canadians expect from our industry, that compare very favourably with those of other countries with whom we are competing for investment capital.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to present.