Thank you to both gentlemen for being with us today.
My first question is for you, Mr. Layzell. A few days ago, we heard statements from some government agencies—NRCan, the National Energy Board, Statistics Canada, and Environment Canada. The impression the committee had was that while we may not have a very good national energy data strategy, we do have lot of data available, and there are hundreds of dedicated professionals or analysts doing work on the data, to process the data, analyze the data, and then do the modelling.
You mentioned some concerns in your statement. I had a quick look at your website, and under the heading “Visualizing Canada's Energy Systems”, you wrote the following:
Unlike the USA, Canada does not have an Energy Information Administration. While valuable data is provided by government sources such as [the big four], the information is often incomplete and disconnected.
What is your definition of “incomplete and disconnected”? Why do you think our current data is not good enough for us to do the analysis or derive a strategy or projections?
You also mentioned that there are “serious shortcomings”. How serious is this gap?