Evidence of meeting #16 for Natural Resources in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cap.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Gitane De Silva  Chief Executive Officer, Canada Energy Regulator
Jean-Denis Charlebois  Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator
Glenn Hargrove  Assistant Deputy Minister, Fuels Sector, Department of Natural Resources

5:15 p.m.

Bloc

Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

There have been times when a witness has been absent due to technical problems. However, I do not believe it is acceptable for a deputy minister to use such problems to avoid appearing before us. With the announcement of the Bay du Nord project resulting in an awkward situation, I had many questions I wanted to ask Mr. Moffet, but they will go unanswered.

So I would ask that we call the deputy minister again, as we have done before with witnesses who have been absent. I find it unacceptable for a deputy minister to use technical problems to avoid appearing before the committee, especially on a day that is inconvenient for the government, as is the case today.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal John Aldag

I hear your frustration. We had done the technology check. He's travelling today and found himself in a hotel room with a broken headset, and there was no time to get a new one—

5:15 p.m.

Bloc

Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC

This is too convenient.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal John Aldag

It's the situation we have.

Look, what I would suggest is that we go through the questions—

5:15 p.m.

Bloc

Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC

I hope he will appear before the committee in the near future. He can't just avoid us like that. If we accept this, in other committees, deputy ministers could cite technical problems to avoid appearing. This could set an awkward precedent.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal John Aldag

I'm not going to make excuses. Like I say, we had him online, but he could not pass the technology check that we did for today's session. What I'm going to suggest is that we go through this with the witnesses we have for the remaining time, and then, when we go for the report discussion, we can discuss this if we need to do anything else.

In the meantime, Larry had the floor with 42 seconds left.

I think Ms. De Silva was going to weigh in on a comment in the absence of Mr. Moffet. I'll leave it to you where you want to go.

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Yes. I have these questions that my colleague had. I'm just going to table them with the clerk, and we can get a reply from them at that point, if it's okay.

I have a question here. Have any of the top ten oil-producing countries in the world imposed an emissions cap? Have Russia, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, China, the UAE, Brazil and Kuwait in particular—any of those countries—imposed an emissions cap?

5:15 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Canada Energy Regulator

Gitane De Silva

Again, that would be a question of policy. I would defer to Glenn Hargrove, who I believe is there in the room from NRCan and who might have that information.

5:15 p.m.

Glenn Hargrove Assistant Deputy Minister, Fuels Sector, Department of Natural Resources

Thank you.

The answer is no, not to our knowledge.

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Okay. I'll table these with the clerk.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal John Aldag

Perfect.

Now we're going to Ms. Dabrusin.

You'll have six minutes.

April 6th, 2022 / 5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first questions are for Canada Energy Regulator.

I'd like to get more details. I know there have been a fair number of questions that we've heard about imports and foreign oil. It might be helpful to perhaps get a bit of clarity on that.

Am I correct that the regulator reviews the amount of oil imports to Canada? Is that part of what you do?

5:15 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Canada Energy Regulator

Gitane De Silva

The regulator does authorize exports of hydrocarbon, and only imports of natural gas. We do track imports. If you have specific questions, Monsieur Charlebois is chief economist and that's part of his role. He could answer those questions.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Sure.

If we compare the level of oil imports now to, say, 10 years ago, are they going up or down?

5:15 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

Jean-Denis Charlebois

As a general trend, oil imports are trending down in Canada.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

I was looking at what I believe is a market snapshot that was released at the end of March. Is it correct that crude oil imports to Canada are the lowest amount imported since 1988? Does that sound correct?

5:15 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Thank you.

The other question that seems to come up a lot is where this oil comes from. Where does the largest amount of our crude oil come from?

5:20 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

Jean-Denis Charlebois

It comes from the United States.

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Thank you. That's helpful.

Do you know roughly what percentage of our oil imports comes from the U.S.?

5:20 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

Jean-Denis Charlebois

In 2021, it was 66%.

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Perfect.

5:20 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

Jean-Denis Charlebois

I might point out that, as we look at past trends, the United States is taking an increasing share of this. If we go back 10 years, we can see that Canada was importing oil from a more diversified group of countries.

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON

Thank you. That's helpful.

So that's actually changed over the past...I don't know if I caught how many years. Did you say it was 10 years?

5:20 p.m.

Chief Economist, Canada Energy Regulator

Jean-Denis Charlebois

Yes, about 10 years.