Evidence of meeting #4 for Natural Resources in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was significant.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Frank Des Rosiers  Assistant Deputy Minister, Innovation and Energy Technology, Department of Natural Resources
Terence Hubbard  Director General, Petroleum Resources Branch, Energy Sector, Department of Natural Resources

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC

I have two quick questions. How do you ensure that indigenous rights are protected and respected with regard to oil and gas development? The second one is a bit of crystal-ball gazing. I'm from southeastern British Columbia. A number of my constituents do work in the oil and gas industry up north. Are you able to suggest at what price per barrel would we expect to see a reversal in the employment numbers in the oil sector?

4:55 p.m.

Director General, Petroleum Resources Branch, Energy Sector, Department of Natural Resources

Terence Hubbard

The government has made a commitment on moving forward to work more closely with Canada's indigenous peoples in the development of Canada's natural resources. We have legal obligations to consult in the Constitution, when making decisions with respect to these development opportunities. Given the location of where most of Canada's oil and gas resources take place, close to indigenous communities, there's an opportunity to work more collaboratively in the development of these resources both in terms of how they're developed but also in the employment and business opportunities.

Natural Resources Canada has an office in B.C., called our Major Projects Management Office-West, which works very closely in collaboration with other federal government departments and agencies and indigenous communities to identify the opportunities, to enhance collaboration, and work more closely together toward enhancing participation in these development opportunities going forward. It's a first step, and we'll continue to make progress in this regard. There's a tremendous opportunity in this area.

With respect to your second question, changes in the price of oil in the industry have hit Canadian oil companies and global oil companies as well. But despite lower prices, we still see a tremendous opportunity to grow our resources going forward. In fact, over the next five years, we still see oil production increasing by approximately 800,000 barrels a day between now and 2020. With the oil sands and with the type of resource that we have in Canada, industry typically takes a long-term perspective with respect to its investment opportunities.

Because of the tremendous resource base that we have here in Canada and because global demand is expected to continue to grow going forward, we expect that in the longer term there will continue to be opportunities to grow our resources. We won't likely see a lot of new investment at $40 a barrel, given the cost of developing our resources, but with continued innovation to bring down costs and the expectation that prices will rebound over the medium term, we will continue to see opportunities and investment in the sector going forward.

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal James Maloney

I think that's all the time we have today.

5 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Innovation and Energy Technology, Department of Natural Resources

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal James Maloney

Thank you very much, the three of you, for coming in today. I appreciate your preparing and coming in, educating us the way you have, and answering all our questions. We're very grateful.

You're our first set of witnesses, and I can say with 100% certainty the best witnesses we've had so far. I think that may hold true for a while.

We're going to go in camera and deal with some other issues.

The meeting is adjourned.