Natural Resources Committee on Oct. 24th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Good afternoon, everyone. We're here, as you know, to continue our study on resource development in northern Canada.

There are a couple of quick issues to deal with before we go to the witnesses. The first is the budget. We talked about it the other day, but the bells were ringing and there wasn't agreement to have a vote.

You have a proposed budget in front of you, or soon will. This budget is to cover witness costs. The clerk has indicated that there has been a good, positive response from witnesses. We've had brief discussions today about possibly increasing the amount from the $78,200 on the form to maybe $98,000, because we have a lot of witnesses from the territories, and their cost of travel is quite a bit higher than it is for other witnesses. So if it's the will of the committee, we could increase that now. We don't have to spend it, of course, but if we have to, at least we won't have to go back and get another budget approved if in fact we need more.

Would it be agreed that we would pass a budget for $98,200 instead of the $78,200, and that I take that to the liaison committee to see if we can get approval?

Go ahead, Monsieur Gravelle.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

I'm just wondering if we need the extra $20,000. It's $20,000. Do we need it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Well, the clerk has indicated that if we're going to continue to see witnesses, as has been proposed and as has been accepted.... We've had acceptance from a lot of the witnesses.

We don't have to, but we would probably be coming back later to approve another budget. And you know, just because we budget for it doesn't mean we spend it. We spend money only as needed.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Well, why don't we spend this $78,000 and then come back if we need more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

It's up to the committee, either way.

Yes, Mr. Harris.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

As you say, Mr. Chair, if we don't spend it, we don't have to take it. This would make it one step rather than two, and I think it's the easiest way.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Exactly.

There isn't agreement. I don't want to get into a long debate right now, Mr. Harris, unless you do.

Can we just approve the $78,200, as was proposed originally, before we saw the high level of acceptance of invitations? Is there agreement on that amount?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

That is approved. We will send that off to the liaison committee.

Monsieur Gravelle, you have an issue you'd like to deal with now.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Last week, when we were questioning some witnesses, the bells rang and we had to go for a vote. I'd like to bring those witnesses back, because we have some more questions for them. We'd like to find an hour when we can bring those witnesses back.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

We'll have Mr. Allen on that.

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Chair, yes, it was unfortunate that the meeting ended with their being cut off. There were a few questions I think our side would have liked to have asked them as well. I would suggest that the clerk plan to have them as soon as he reasonably can. It might be the week after the break, because I think if we're getting a high acceptance of witnesses, we might be booked. If it ends up right after the break, we have no problem with that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Is there agreement?

We'll go to Mr. Harris.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Were they all from Ottawa?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

They were departmental officials, yes, so they are all from Ottawa.

Is it agreed, then, that I can ask these witnesses back as soon as the clerk can reasonably schedule them? We don't want to start bumping witnesses who have agreed, so if we can, we will do it as soon as possible after the break. Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Seeing agreement, we will proceed in that fashion.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

I think you indicated to me earlier that the hour with the Norwegian minister is already spoken for.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

For the one hour we have witnesses booked. The other hour will be taken by the Norwegian delegation. So we'll have to book it later after the break, but there is wide agreement that we want them back, so we will do that. Thank you very much.

To the witnesses, thank you all very much for coming today to help us get the information we need to do a thorough study on resource development in northern Canada.

We have with us today, from the Canadian Space Agency, Dr. Steve MacLean, president; and Chummer Farina, vice-president. From the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada we have Richard Moore, chair, geosciences committee; and Scott Cavan, program director, aboriginal affairs. From the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada, we have James Ferguson, chair and acting president.

Thank you all very much for being here today. We'll have your presentations for up to 10 minutes in the order on the agenda. We will start with the Canadian Space Agency and Dr. Steve MacLean.

[Dr. Steve MacLean, President, Canadian Space Agency]

Mr. Benoit, Chair, Mr. Gravel, Mr. McGuinty, vice-chairs, and distinguished members, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

I'd like to offer a short statement, and I'll be pleased to answer any questions afterwards.

This short brief will touch on how space, our strategic and integrated infrastructure, supports the critical priorities of government, especially those related to this committee of geomapping and the sustainable development of the north.

Just for a moment, let's step back to the very beginning of Canada’s long and outstanding history of space nearly 50 years ago, when we became the third nation to launch a satellite, Alouette 1.

Our first scientific satellite was sent aloft as a government scientific mission to increase our understanding of the interaction of solar storms as they collide with our upper atmosphere. While these storms illuminate our northern night sky with the beautiful aurora borealis, they have the potential to wreak havoc on our electrical transmission and communications networks.

Three satellites later, with the launch of Alouette 2, and then ISIS 1 and ISIS 2, Canada and the international scientific community have produced more than 1,000 scientific papers, and at the same time developed applications that will provide advanced warning to allow us to better protect our fragile ground infrastructure.

When we speak of an integrated and fragile infrastructure, it's possible that you may be thinking of Anik F2 when it malfunctioned on October 6. This rare outage cut Internet, broadcasting, cellular, and phone services, and even ATM transactions in many communities across the north. Weather forecasters could not relay critical information to air transportation services, and control towers could not contact first responders, resulting in the cancellation of nearly 50 flights and stranding travellers for days.

The north, more than any other region of our country, because of the vast distances and the hostile and changing weather conditions faced by our citizens who live and work there, needs dedicated, robust, and redundant space-driven communications, weather, and navigation services. It needs this if it is to fully realize and capitalize its potential for sustainable development, now and in the future.

You may be aware that the Canadian Space Agency has a mandate to promote the peaceful use and development of space, advise and advance the knowledge of space through science, and ensure that space science and technology provide social and economic benefits for Canadians.

With a stable budget of $300 million annually, of which more than 70% is contracted to the Canadian space industry and academia, the agency collaborates with and supports the mandates of government departments.

The Canadian Space Agency has recently aligned its programs and organizational structure and directs its activity in full support of critical government priorities. In particular, the programs and activities of the Canadian space program support the Arctic and northern strategy; sovereignty and security and the safe navigation of ships in our icy waters; Canadian Forces deployments at home and abroad; fishing patrols and offshore pollution detection and interdiction activities; atmospheric and environmental monitoring related to precision weather forecasting and climate change; and the exploitation, development, and sustainable management of Canada’s natural resources, especially in the north.

The Canadian Space Agency does not act alone. We partner with many government departments and other space agencies to achieve common goals in support of their mandates and the priorities of government.

As an example, the Canadian Space Agency contributes $4 million annually to the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, a division of Natural Resources Canada. They have the mandate to archive and render RADARSAT data into information products that, among others, may serve to help the sustainable development of the north.

We partner with National Defence in the design of satellites that will provide advance warning, with the capability to track vessels navigating way beyond the sight of our over-the-horizon radar. In the future this will be done on a global scale with a constellation of small satellites capable of monitoring all legal ocean-going vessels. This is critically important to actively manage fishing within our protected zones, carry out pollution interdiction, and support international anti-piracy missions.

Canada’s space-ground infrastructure is again a partnered activity shared between the agency, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, National Defence, and increasingly with the private sector.

Canada is at a crossroads, and in terms of leveraging future space assets, because of our geographical location, one may view this as both a privileged juncture and a strategic opportunity.

If Canada wants to take fuller advantage of some of the more than 250 satellites that will be launched by nations in the next decade, many of them capturing images over Canada and our northern extremes, we will need to soon begin to expand our integrated space-ground infrastructure. In this way, we will be better poised to ensure the development of our space infrastructure and take advantage of the capture, archiving, processing, and dissemination of this complementary data that other nations are obtaining about our own nation.

Space is a strategic asset, and spacefaring nations know they must partner in areas of mutual interest. In this respect, Canada extends the reach of its space program by actively leveraging the interests of other space agencies. We do this by pursuing missions and exchanging space-derived data, especially in sectors related to the environment, disaster management, search and rescue, and scientific research in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

As an example, in addition to our own satellites, RADARSAT and SCISAT, our scientific instruments are flying aboard American, European, Japanese, and Swedish satellites. These satellites are providing our government departments with complementary and critical space data that is, among others, improving our precision weather forecasting, monitoring the extent of flooding and crop damage, or enhancing the monitoring of the progression of spruce bud infestation and mitigation efforts being applied in western Canada.

At the same time, the private sector is using space data to pursue mining and resource exploration activities and to monitor and protect vital oil and gas pipelines, looking at subsidence around wellheads and along the length of the transmission line to market.

Tracking evidence and mapping zones subject to subsidence, such as geologically unstable areas or where the foundation is built on permafrost, is of vital interest and importance in the north, as communities advance their planning for the implementation of critical and costly infrastructure. Here too, space-based assets such as RADARSAT provide invaluable data in the support of infrastructure planning for the north.

The contributions of RADARSAT, SCISAT, and OSIRIS to the Canadian international research efforts undertaken during the International Polar Year have spurred scientific interest and research throughout Canada's vast northern expanse. The results of this intensive two-year global scientific inquiry, much of it centred on Canada's Arctic, will be unveiled to the world in the Montreal conference for IPY, the concluding conference, in April of 2012.

At the same time, with the increasing global demand for gold, precious rare earth minerals, petrochemicals, diamonds, and water, especially water, our Canadian north is witnessing an unprecedented boom in demand for prospecting, exploration, and exploitation. I have several examples of how we have integrated RADARSAT data with other georeferenced information to produce accurate maps of this intensive resource activity in the north, and I'll make sure that every member of the committee gets those examples.

At the same time, one of these products demonstrates the integration of various sources of georeferenced data to document the range of research and activities of one of our government departments, Fisheries and Oceans, as they carry out their mandate in the ice-infested waters of Canada's Arctic region. We are partnering with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a pilot project to show how we would map the entire northern coastline and undersea continental boundaries in support of Canada's sovereignty claim over the vast expanse in the Arctic region. This project demonstrates both the power and the potential of using space assets in combination with other instruments such as airborne lidar and undersea sonar devices. A combination of these precise and varied data sources will be used to produce an accurate georeferenced mapping product of the Arctic coastline and extension of the continental shelf. The detailed accurate mapping information produced by this collaborative undertaking will be used to defend Canada's Arctic sovereignty, support our international policy agenda, and, in time, broaden our commercial interests.

Canada's use of these georeferenced products to stake our international claim will be assuring the future social and economic prosperity of all our citizens and foster the active management, protection, and exploitation of Canada's northern expanse, its coastlines, and navigable and sovereign waters coast to coast to coast.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you very much, Dr. MacLean, for your presentation.

We go now to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, to Mr. Moore. I believe you're giving the presentation, so if you would go ahead, please, for up to 10 minutes.

[Richard Moore, Chair, Geosciences Committee, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Richard Moore, and I am a representative of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. I am a PDAC board member and I am the chair of the geoscience committee. I am also a consulting geologist with more than 40 years of experience internationally and in Canada.

I am here with my colleague, Scott Cavan, PDAC program director for aboriginal affairs. Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to meet with you today.

The PDAC is a national association, formed in 1932, whose members are involved in the mineral exploration and development industry both in Canada and around the world. Our membership includes over 1,000 corporate and more than 7,000 individual members, comprising mining companies, junior exploration companies, service and consulting firms, geoscientists, prospectors, students, and the financial and investment sectors.

The PDAC organizes an annual convention in Toronto, which is the world's premier mineral industry trade show and investor's exchange. In 2011, our convention attracted over 27,000 delegates from over 100 countries.

The geoscience knowledge provided by federal, provincial, and territorial governments as a public good is widely acknowledged to be one of Canada's competitive advantages in attracting mineral exploration and to have contributed to this country's standing as a leading mineral producer.

It is also essential for maintaining Canada's role as the leading destination for exploration investment. Since 2004, Canada has been the number one country for attracting global exploration, attracting a share of between 16% and 19%.

Geologic mapping is the basic research tool needed for finding evidence that geologic forces have led to a concentration of resources that are economically viable. Geomapping is fundamental for a company to decide where to focus its exploration activity.

Most mineral resources in Canada are public assets. The responsible development of these resources is in the public interest. It creates jobs, sustains communities, and contributes to Canada's GDP. Public geoscience stimulates exploration and is a key element of federal, provincial, and territorial strategies.

Government geoscience plays an important role in mineral exploration in Canada.

Mineral exploration and development differ from most other economic activities, as mineral deposits are where you find them. It takes many years and lots of money to determine whether a mineral deposit can turn a profit, and it is a high-risk business.

Government geoscience is important. It attracts exploration investment by helping companies to identify areas of favourable mineral potential. It makes exploration efficient and more effective. By reducing exploration costs and risk, public geoscience attracts investment, creates jobs, and increases government revenues.

There is documented evidence that government geoscience stimulates mineral exploration. Program evaluations suggest that six out of ten mapping projects have immediate impact in terms of claims staking and new exploration activity.

There is also data that highlights the return on investment for geoscience research. Natural Resources Canada data suggests that while incremental increases in exploration expenditures are difficult to quantify, every $1 million of government investment to enhance geoscience knowledge will stimulate $5 million in private sector exploration expenditures.

Geomapping has played a critical role in the past and present successes of the Canadian mining industry. It was at this time of year 119 years ago that J.B. Tyrrell was canoeing home from his geomapping program along the western shore of Hudson's Bay. His had been a voyage of discovery, travelling by canoe into the eastern Barren Lands of the Canadian tundra, an area where no European had travelled since Samuel Hearne in the 17th century.

J.B. Tyrrell was an officer of the Geological Survey of Canada, and his were some of the first geomapping expeditions of the geological survey in the north, which led to the eventual understanding of the geology of the eastern Barren Lands.

Where are we today? The same region explored by J.B. Tyrrell is home to Nunavut's only producing mine, the Meadowbank gold mine. Its discovery was the result of many years of prospecting and exploration work by geologists using maps of the Geological Survey of Canada.

The Meadowbank mine employs about 500 people, and in 2010 it contributed almost 12% of the territory's GDP. The mine is owned by Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, which by the end of 2010 had spent $1.26 billion on the project. The mine entered production in June 2010 and has an estimated reserve of 32.2 million tonnes grading 3.5 grams per tonne of gold.

Before the development of the mine, the unemployment rate in Baker Lake was at 50% or higher, and there were few opportunities for economic development. The company enacted policies to give preference to local suppliers, sponsored community events and organizations, and provided as many jobs as they could. Employment at the mine and related service jobs significantly lowered the unemployment rate and provided a huge economic boost to the community, bringing with it improved lifestyles.

This is just one example of how government-supported geoscience has translated into the development of a mine that produces tax revenues, contributes to the Canadian economy, supplies jobs and training, and offers a higher standard of living for local communities, including aboriginal people. There are many more examples like the Meadowbank mine. They demonstrate that the future of Canada's continued dominance in the exploration sector rests upon continued and increased investment in geomapping and scientific research.

In its pre-budget submission to the House Standing Committee on Finance, the PDAC has recommended that the Canadian government continue to invest in the geomapping for energy and minerals, or the GEM, program and the targeted geoscience initiative, or the TGI. These programs have provided important geological knowledge that will undoubtedly result in significant exploration success. The government has planned on continuing these programs. The PDAC supports this decision and recommends that the funding for these research programs remain a firm commitment in future budgets.

Both the geomapping for energy and minerals program and the targeted geoscience initiative are multi-year programs that have been funded for several years. The annual costs to the federal government are $22 million for GEM and $5 million for TGI.

The information gathered from these programs increases the knowledge of Canada's natural resources; encourages mineral exploration and mine development; contributes to economic development, particularly in the north; attracts investment; and contributes to the professional development of geology students.

Geomapping is building the technical exploration infrastructure for the future, for the continued success of the Canadian mineral industry and the economy.

Thank you, and I would be pleased to answer questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Moore, for your presentation, and to both of you for being here today.

We go to the final presenter for the day from the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada, James Ferguson, chair and acting president.

Go ahead with your presentation, please, Mr. Ferguson.

[James Ferguson, Chair and Acting President, Geomatics Industry Association of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for allowing us to speak to the committee this afternoon. I'll read a prepared brief also.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada, formerly the Canadian Association of Aerial Surveyors, is the only national organization in Canada that advocates for geomatics on behalf of its members. The geomatics business in Canada is home to over 2,000 firms--small, medium, and large--that employ close to 25,000 employees across the nation. To gauge relative size, this is larger than the number of people employed in the pharmaceuticals business, as an example. The estimated annual gross revenue generated by these firms is over $2 billion, with approximately 25% of that being earned as export revenue.

What is geomatics? The definition from Wikipedia is as follows:

Geomatics (also known as geospatial technology or geomatics engineering) is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.

Geomatics has traditionally been practised by the surveying, mapping, remote-sensing, cartography, photogrammetry, geodesy, hydrography, and geographic information system disciplines. In the past few decades, geomatics has rapidly evolved and grown into a modern cross-sector advanced technology discipline employing sophisticated approaches to creating and maintaining maps and imbedding those maps into the multiplicity of decision support systems that a digital society needs and uses. One common example is the vehicle navigation systems that we use today. This evolution has significantly broadened the range of sectors that employ geomatics and has also substantially increased the need for up-to-date, modern national mapping, which is the foundational digital infrastructure required to support the efficient application of geomatics across our society.

Commercial companies, such as Google, NAVTEQ, and Microsoft, to name a few, rely 100% on the business of geomatics to create their maps. Microsoft Bing estimates that 35% of all Bing search engine searches have a geographic or location component. Most of this available mapping is of a resolution and accuracy that allows it to be used for general consumer consumption but does not meet the demanding business and societal needs required for in-depth geomatics analysis for, say, flood mapping, transportation and infrastructure development, and detailed exploration activities. This available mapping from commercial companies also tends to be focused on areas where a commercial market is available, as opposed to over all of Canada; thus it does not consistently meet many of the demands of our society.

Who uses geomatics? The users of geomatics are truly cross-sectoral. Users come from sectors that include infrastructure and critical infrastructure; transportation--land, air, and sea; emergency management; public health and biosecurity; resource management; mining; petroleum resources; the environment; national defence and border security; utilities and telecommunications; forestry; fisheries; manufacturing; and trade and retail services.

Further, governments are the largest consumer of geomatics data and services--municipal, regional, provincial, territorial, and federal.

For the past 20 or more years, advancements in applied geomatics in Canada have taken place primarily in the private sector, some independently funded and some in cooperation with universities and limited government programs. Examples include IRAP, GEOIDE, GeoConnections, Tecterra.

Whereas Canada was an international leader in geomatics post-World War II and into the 1980s, its status and ability at the federal level has fallen behind much of the developed world. There are many reasons for this, but GIAC believes the lack of a coherent, practical, and actionable national strategy and plan is at the core of this decline.

Most of Canada's national maps are antiquated, with base data often more than 30 years old. Canada's mapping information is incomplete, and the level of accuracy and resolution of national maps is inadequate and needs to be enhanced to include detail adherent to the needs of modern cross-sectoral geomatics users.

As a result, in order to support effective decision-making, public and private activities across many sectors are forced to use out-of-date mapping, create new mapping, or acquire other mapping for their specific projects. The cumulative effect of this situation across our society is to add substantial costs and time to all projects in sectors that require mapping. This is a productivity drag on Canada's economy.

There is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but the technology and know-how exist to create a modern national map in Canada. However, without a cohesive national multi-sector strategy to establish standards, develop an execution, delivery, and maintenance model, and ensure that data when collected is stored and accessible, investments made by governments and the private sector will continue to be ad hoc and incomplete.

Beyond mapping, a national geomatics strategy would also address the strategic importance of geomatics technology to a modern economy and society by helping facilitate the effective application of geomatics in our education systems, our research, development, and commercialization activities, our skills development programs, and with our key national policy issues, such as energy, sovereignty, environment, public safety, natural resources, health, and others.

Having up-to-date and accurate mapping data openly and freely available, based on user models that can be well defined, would allow Canada to efficiently direct resources effectively, plan for future growth and development, and establish sovereignty over our borders.

Governments need to care, because the current situation is negatively impacting our national productivity, competitiveness, and levels of innovation.

Geomatics is a modern technology that Canada needs to leverage more effectively in order to compete effectively in a global economy. This is especially true for more remote areas such as Canada's north, where the lack of adequate geomatics information hinders ongoing activities as well as future economic development.

There are a number of examples of how government can partner with industry to ensure accessible data is available and to work together to prioritize the gaps in existing locations. In the field of geomatics, the following program is an example that is in place in Alberta: Spatial Data Warehouse Ltd. is an Alberta-registered, not-for-profit company created in 1996 to take over and fund digital mapping activities that were previously undertaken and funded by the Government of Alberta. It has proven to be one of the most successful P3 initiatives within the province of Alberta. Spatial Data Warehouse's objective is to provide for the long-term management, updating, storage and distribution, and associated funding of digital mapping data sets that collectively make up Alberta's digital mapping infrastructure.

The following recommendations were made by GIAC in its pre-budget submission to the House finance committee in both the fall of 2009 and the fall of 2010, and were supported by explanatory visits to over 40 members of Parliament in November 2009 and November 2010.

One, GIAC recommends that the Government of Canada fund the development of Canada's first comprehensive multi-sector national geomatics action plan by the end of 2010. This would be Canada's first comprehensive multi-sector national geomatics action plan. The objective of the NGAP, as it's called, would be to strengthen the use of geomatics and promote it as an essential tool upon which decisions that impact our quality of life, innovation, productivity, and global competitiveness rely.

The NGAP would be facilitated and compiled by an independent policy and research organization working through a national forum that would consist of representatives of government, industry, academia, and the user community. The NGAP would address the need for a modern approach to national mapping as well as the need for the more effective application of geomatics in our education systems, in our research and development and commercialization activities, and in our skills development programs.

Two, GIAC recommends that the Government of Canada invest up to $250 million over a five-year period in a national imagery acquisition program. This program would satisfy the need for modern national mapping by leveraging satellite and airborne imaging and digital elevation models that have become the preferred option for mapping users. These modern maps are directly usable but can also be employed to modernize the maintenance of other key types of mapping, such as road mapping, topographic mapping, and land use mapping, and others.

GIAC's vision of the NIAP is for Canada to establish and sustain a comprehensive repository of up-to-date imagery and digital elevation models that will be accessible and freely available to all federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, the private sector, non-government organizations, communities of interest, and the public.

Notwithstanding the above recommendations, in 2011 GIAC supported a submission by one of its members to the House finance committee as part of its pre-budget consultations, recommending a series of pilot projects that could lay the foundation to support the above-mentioned national geomatics action plan.

National leadership would allow for the establishment of standards and avoid issues of interprovincial effects of development caused by having incompatible data--i.e. projects that span provinces are currently disparate when it comes to geospatial data. This leadership would also provide for a consistent inventory for federal government property across Canada, and having a national perspective will better prioritize data acquisition or updating for all levels of government.

The benefits derived from employing geomatics more effectively can be seen in a report prepared for the Canadian Council on Geomatics, which pegs gains to GDP at 0.6% to 1.2%, or in the range of $9.5 billion to $18.9 billion per year. In a similar analysis funded by two private Canadian geomatics firms in 2010, Dr. Ian Lee, the MBA director of the Carleton University Sprott School of Business, predicted gains in the range of $7.3 billion to $14.4 billion.

In closing, Mr. Chair, the Prime Minister has made Arctic sovereignty a priority, but only a small percentage of Canada's north has recent geomatics data. Programs such as the GEM program would gain much greater benefit if those researchers had ready access to better, up-to-date, and open geospatial data, as opposed to having to source it ad hoc using funds extracted from already stretched research budgets.

The solution is through GIAC's recommendations for a national geomatics action plan and a national image reacquisition program. A national geomatics warehouse containing all current and future data that all could freely access and use as needed would be created. This could be built on a sustainable business model, ensuring continued relevance of this essential digital infrastructure that would continue to facilitate the effective development and growth of the north.

On behalf of the Geomatics Industry Association of Canada, I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Natural Resources for the opportunity to speak before you today. I welcome any questions you might have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you very much, Mr. Ferguson. Thank you all for your presentations.

We will now go to questions and comments, starting with, from the government side, Mr. Harris, for up to seven minutes. Go ahead, please.