I'll now briefly go through some of our recommendations.
In our role as advocates for evidence-based policy, we have recently undertaken a series of expert interviews and developed recommendations for modernizing the National Energy Board. The state of energy data was raised repeatedly in those interviews.
Combining what we heard from the 23 experts we talked to and what we know from our own work, we recommend harmonizing and aggregating data across federal, provincial, and territorial agencies; producing energy data with aligned timing, units, and assumptions; expanding the scope of collected data to include, for example, demand-side energy data, information on international and interprovincial energy trade; data that is as granular as possible and in formats that can be easily disaggregated and manipulated; improved quality assurance and, where applicable, information on assumptions and inconsistencies between datasets; and reduced time lags between the collection and publication of data.
To implement these recommendations, we further recommend the creation of an independent Canadian energy information agency.
A second finding from our research was the issue of independence and the need to separate data collection and analysis functions from policy-making and regulatory agencies.
In the case of the National Energy Board, we have the same body that is evaluating and regulating a project also producing the energy and supply and demand forecasts that may be used to evaluate that project. This creates a situation where the forecast used to determine project feasibility may not be viewed as sufficiently independent. The NEB expert panel also recognized this issue and recommended creating an independent energy information agency. We agree and would like to highlight that there are two separate functions that need to be considered: data collection, and data analysis.
We recommend separating these two functions, expanding energy data collection at Statistics Canada, and creating a new Canadian energy information agency charged with disseminating energy and climate data.
We envision the new Canadian energy information agency relying on Statistics Canada for the collection and harmonization of energy data. This is consistent with the mandate of Statistics Canada, and it makes use of existing data collection capacity, expertise, and relationships with provincial governments.
The new energy information agency should be housed within Natural Resources Canada and report to the Minister of Natural Resources. However, the independence of that agency should be established by specifying, in legislation, that the agency does not require review or approval of its statistics or forecasting by any government entity.
The mandate of the agency should include reporting quarterly on energy supply, demand, sources, and downstream consumption, including international and interprovincial energy import and export; producing annual scenarios for energy supply and demand, including a reference case that considers domestic and international action on climate change; producing an annual report on Canada's progress towards fulfilling its commitments to addressing climate change; managing a coordinated interface, a one-stop-shop platform to disseminate all energy data and analysis; making all data available to the public at no cost in easy-to-use formats; conducting proactive energy education to increase energy literacy; participating in project hearings as expert witnesses with respect to energy and GHG emissions modelling; and finally, advising government ministries and agencies on energy matters upon request.
In conclusion, we would like to thank the committee for initiating this study. Ensuring that we have high-quality energy data and analysis is essential to good decision-making, and is especially critical in the current context of rapidly changing energy systems.
We look forward to the recommendations that come out of this study and thank you for the opportunity to participate in the discussion.