Natural Resources Committee on March 21st, 2023

[John Hannaford]

We're part of the team. There's a very active and detailed process under way within government. I would say that the role we play is partially to provide expertise with respect to the electricity sector, partially to provide expertise with respect to some of the broader regulatory and indigenous relations aspects of the work and generally to support the process as it unfolds.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Thank you.

I'm the chair of the agriculture committee, so I'm someone who often has conversations in the agriculture committee with stakeholders in that context. More and more, there's a dynamic between ECCC and the policies there and agriculture.

Perhaps I can direct this to Ms. O'Brien, who I think is in the fuels sector. I had a conversation with Irving Oil about the clean fuel regs and some of the dynamics that are at play.

Ms. O'Brien, Irving Oil raised some concerns about their refinery in Saint John and the relation to the clean fuel standard. Can you talk about that dynamic and what relationship you guys share between the two agencies, given that there's both a lens on natural resources and a lens on environment?

That can be for Mr. Hannaford, if I'm getting it wrong.

[John Hannaford]

No, Erin is fine.

Go ahead, Erin.

[Erin O'Brien, Assistant Deputy Minister, Fuels Sector, Department of Natural Resources]

Thank you very much for the question.

We are certainly aware of the concerns that Irving Oil has raised with respect to the clean fuel regulations. We've been actively consulting with them. We're also working with colleagues at ECCC who are responsible for developing the regulations. We are working through a possible resolution.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Okay. I appreciate the fact that it is on the radar of NRCan.

I have about a minute left, Mr. Chair, and the last minute is around wood pellets.

Agriculture and forestry would be the big elements in Kings—Hants. I can appreciate that raising perfectly healthy forests to make wood pellets is not smart public policy, but some of the offsets of the lumbering process really feed into what I think is a competitive life-cycle analysis.

Maybe this is for you, Mr. Hannaford, or for you, Mr. Hargrove. What can NRCan do to strengthen the wood pellet sector, particularly as we look at energy sources in Europe from Atlantic Canada?

[John Hannaford]

Certainly, the bioeconomy is very interesting, and there are some real opportunities there, but I will turn to Mr. Hargrove on the more detailed points.

[Glenn Hargrove, Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources]

Thank you for the question.

One thing I would point to is the work we're doing through the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. We recently released a renewed national forest bioeconomy strategy.

I know you don't have a lot of time, but I think what's really key is making sure that we are extracting the most value per cubic metre harvested from our forests. That includes a wide range of products moving up the value chain and using what might otherwise be waste materials in the most valuable way possible. I think that range of opportunities certainly includes forest bioenergy and wood pellets.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

That's the end of our time.

I would like to thank Deputy Minister Hannaford and all of the officials. I could go through and name each of you and your departments once again. I'd probably get some names wrong and it would also extend our meeting by another five minutes, but please accept a general thank you with great gratitude to each of you for being here. We really appreciate your being available and, to those who were asked questions, your answering them.

With that, colleagues, we will be back on March 31 for a review of our draft report's recommendations.

Thanks. Have a great evening. The meeting is adjourned.