Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.
Members of the committee as well, good morning. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to participate in your study on the programs and activities of the Canadian General Standards Board.
I am the president of the Canadian Fuels Association. Gilles Morel, my colleague here, is our director of fuels. He is really the lead interface with our organization and members and the Canadian General Standards Board.
By way of background, our association represents the petroleum refining sector in Canada. Those are the businesses and companies that refine, distribute, and market petroleum products across the country. In essence, they are the manufacturing component of Canada's oil and gas value chain, the companies that convert crude oil into transportation fuels, amounting to about 75% of industry output, but also a broad range of other products, including home heating oil, asphalt for roads, and petrochemical feedstocks that are essential components to hundreds of consumer goods that Canadians use and rely on every day, from plastics to textiles to pharmaceutical products.
Canada has 18 refineries located in eight provinces, with an overall capacity to refine two million barrels of crude oil per day. They contribute collectively $5.6 billion in direct GDP, and employ 17,500 Canadians in communities across the country from Come By Chance, Newfoundland, to Burnaby, British Columbia.
Getting the fuel from the refinery to wholesale and retail customers is accomplished through a complex network comprising transportation assets, including pipelines, trucks, trains, and ships; 21 primary distribution terminals; 50 regional terminals; and some 12,000 retail sites.
The transportation fuels in particular that our members produce are a vital component of Canada's energy system: 30% of the energy that Canadians consume is for transportation. That is close to 90 billion litres a year of such fuels as gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. These are the fuels that keep our economy moving and enable our high standard of living. With our vast geography and dispersed population, it should come as no surprise that Canadians are among the highest per capita users of transportation fuels in the world.
To complete the value chain to our ultimate consumers and the more than 22 million vehicles that are on the road today, it requires a robust product quality system supported by relevant and appropriate standards. For many decades the Canadian fuels industry has worked in close collaboration with the Canadian General Standards Board to develop and maintain petroleum standards that define the performance requirements of petroleum products that meet consumers' expectations. Standards also play an important role in government procurement activities and product trading within Canada and internationally.
The CGSB process, while fostering harmonization with international or North American standards, ensures that Canada's unique circumstances, including climate and geography, are reflected in the standards. For example, properties of fuel that are directly affected by climate condition, such as winter operability, are determined from 40 years of daily weather data obtained from the vast network of hundreds of meteorological stations managed by Environment Canada.
There are currently five active petroleum committees within the CGSB that manage a total of 32 standards in the areas of test methods, aviation fuels, middle distillates, gasoline, and alternative fuels. Just last week the test methods committee conducted its 120th meeting, representing over 60 years of continuous activity and partnership between the industry and government towards the development and adaptation of test methods.
Each year approximately 50 experts from industry, government, and the users community participate directly in the semi-annual petroleum committee meetings and working group sessions. In recent years, industry contributed over $1 million in various testing programs aimed at addressing the specific concerns and approving and developing new test methods that are now broadly used and recognized internationally.
The CGSB standards continue to evolve and are becoming an integrated part of the regulatory systems in Canada and most provinces. The Canadian fuels regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, petroleum products regulations, and alternative fuel legislation enacted by many provinces in Canada have adopted or referenced the most recent CGSB standards.
So what's next?
There is no doubt in my mind that CGSB has an important role to play today and in coming years. As Canada's economic prosperity is closely linked to its trading activity, reliance on the appropriate set of standards adapted to its specific circumstances will continue to be necessary. The CGSB process offers a unique window that facilitates the development of standards via processes that recognize the diversity of interest, ensure a balanced stakeholders' participation, and deliver standards that are harmonized with ISO systems and procedures.
In closing, we're convinced that the standards are a critical success factor in a strong economy, and our industry's continued support via the work of volunteers, as well as its financial contribution to CGSB, is a demonstration of our commitment well into the future.
With that, I'll close, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.