Natural Resources Committee on April 23rd, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

Oh, the clerk thought you had completed your questioning round. Did you have more to go?

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Calgary Confederation, AB]

I did.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

Look at me, saying I would be on my best behaviour. Then I try to cut you off as my very first move.

Go ahead.

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you all for being here. I greatly appreciate every time we get to talk to our professional public service. I also really enjoy every time we talk to Calgarians. It's a win-win for me right now. I'm super pleased to be here.

I'm hoping we can start with some table setting. It's a good opportunity to get your thoughts as to where the puck is going, what you think will be new or change this year and how the estimates support and reflect that.

Mr. Orencsak, you can start, and perhaps we can then hear from Ms. Sletto.

[Greg Orencsak]

Thank you for the question with respect to the estimates for the department.

As the minister mentioned, we're seeking budgetary authorities in the order of $4.9 billion for this year. That's a reduction from last year, when they were $5.1 billion.

Some of the increases reflect additional spending on the government's priorities. For example, the estimates reflect recent budgetary announcements about the critical minerals strategy and the critical minerals infrastructure fund. We're also contributing to the government's trade infrastructure strategy for investments in the first and last mile fund, for example.

There's also an increase in the biofuels production incentive program. That's in direct response to some of the U.S. policy changes. We're also seeing increases in the smart renewables and electrification pathways program of $150 million in this year's estimates. We are also seeing some changes in investments for forest fire management, including what the minister talked about in relation to additional capacity and aircraft to fight forest fires, including in the upcoming firefighting season.

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you.

Ms. Sletto, go ahead.

[Tracy Sletto]

The budget for 2026-27 for the Canada Energy Regulator, as described in my opening remarks, shows the kinds of investments we're making across some very key areas. I'll highlight a few that we think are quite important for the coming year.

In terms of our safety and environment oversight activities, we have very critical and important compliance verification activities and have continued delivery of inspection activities on the energy infrastructure that we regulate. There are 73,000 kilometres of pipeline in Canada, for example, that we want to ensure are operated and maintained in a safe manner. The joint inspection activity and compliance verification activity are funded largely through the allocation to our safety and environment oversight area.

In our energy adjudication area, I'll just highlight some significant investments that we've been making and will continue to make with the appropriation that is granted to us in improved decision-making, in streamlining and in improved efficiency. That's both in the core responsibility and in the internal services that support it.

I'd highlight the investment in and launch of something called the CER portal, which was just updated and released, with some critical updates this spring. It helps to digitize and automate how a regulated industry would interact with the regulator and how we would manage and support decision-making processes with those efficiencies in mind. We see it in the very tangible results with respect to the timeliness and efficacy of our decision-making processes. There are some real improvements there.

There's just one other area I'll highlight, and that's with respect to our energy information area. We continue to deliver very high-quality and really focused energy information and analysis to Canadians, including with Canada's energy future report, which was released some weeks ago. It was very well received, and it provides information and analysis that helps inform the energy dialogue in Canada. This, market snapshots, other provincial-territorial profiles and those kinds of products are what the funds that are appropriated to the CER really help to support.

I can give you numerous other examples, but I wanted to highlight those in response to your question. Thank you for it.

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you both. I really appreciate it.

I heard about an enhanced focus on critical minerals. I heard about biofuels and responding to the United States. I heard about smart renewables and the importance of electrification. I heard about forest fire management. I heard about efficiencies, timeliness and allowing future development to occur with speed. I appreciate that those priorities of the government are being reflected in the work of the department and the agencies.

I wonder whether anybody here would like to take a crack at explaining how they see, perhaps in the future, the committee thinking about how the department will approach work as the relationship with the world continues to evolve. Also, as we start looking even more at expanding to international markets, how might that affect the work as interpreted through the estimates?

[Greg Orencsak]

Maybe I'll take a crack at that.

Canada continues to be, and continues to play a role as, a reliable supplier in global energy and resource markets. That's particularly important today, as we see more disruption in the world, including in the Middle East. What that will mean for the department is taking more coordinated actions on the international scene as they relate to our energy security needs and our energy sovereignty, including through increasing the supply of oil and LNG to our allies.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

That's brilliantly on time—

[Greg Orencsak]

That is helping to stabilize global markets, but it's also helping to advance the country's economic interests. I think you'll see similar activities related to securing our supply chains for critical minerals, working with like-minded partners.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

That's the end of the round. I gave some leeway so that you could get a full answer.

[Corey Hogan, Liberal, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you very much. I appreciate it, Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

Now we'll go to Monsieur Simard for six minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I hope someone will be able to shed some light on this for me. Earlier, I asked the minister about the funding for the pipeline going west. I asked him if public funding was possible, and he said it was possible through the indigenous loan guarantee program.

That program has increased from $5 billion to $10 billion, with a maximum of $1 billion per project or proponent. As far as the pipeline is concerned, the cost is estimated at between $30 billion and $40 billion.

Could that be divided up somehow so that a number of indigenous communities could be involved in the funding?

That way, we could, for instance, reach the maximum of $10 billion in loans for indigenous communities.

Is that part of the analysis done by the department?

[Greg Orencsak]

Maybe I'll take a crack at your question on the loan guarantee program.

You're right. The government made a commitment to a $10-billion indigenous loan guarantee program. In practice, how that supports the construction of a future pipeline will depend on the proponent that comes forward and the support that the proponent is able to garner through their work with indigenous communities. We'll have to wait to see that in terms of the specific indigenous participation and how indigenous ownership and participation could be financed through programs by the Government of Canada, but potentially throughout—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I'm sorry to cut you off, but I want to clarify something.

Hypothetically, would it be possible for 10 indigenous proponents to be involved with the pipeline and to raise $10 billion?

[Greg Orencsak]

The program could provide—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

The interpreters are having a challenge because you're wonderfully, diplomatically soft-spoken. If you could raise your voice a bit, that will help them out.

[Greg Orencsak]

I appreciate that. I'm happy to do that.

It's a $10-billion loan guarantee program. It will depend on the loans that the program backs, but I think, hypothetically, your math can work.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Okay.

I didn't expect that much candour. Thank you very much.

With regard to the Canada Energy Regulator, you said earlier that you produce data, analyses and studies. I assume that estimating the cost of that infrastructure is part of your mandate. This pipeline would go west. I assume you conducted analyses on that basis to determine whether that type of infrastructure could be cost-effective.

I say that because I still remember the Parliamentary Budget Officer's analysis when he appeared before this committee and said that the Trans‑Mountain pipeline would not be cost-effective over a period of 40 years based on the price charged to users.

Have you done that kind of analysis?

[Tracy Sletto]

Thank you for your question. It's an opportunity for me to clarify the kind of energy information and analysis that we conduct as part of our mandate, which is with respect to broad market analysis. It's about macroeconomic analysis and energy supply-and-demand scenarios. That's really the focus of our energy futures work. It would not be specific to any one project.

The kind of analysis that you just described is not what the role or the mandate of the Canada Energy Regulator would be with respect to its energy information work. Certainly—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I didn't want to cut you off, but I wanted to tell you that someone, whom I find quite credible, came to speak to us earlier this week or last week. I'm referring to Rory Johnston, who is also doing studies on opportunities and markets for the oil sector.

I also spoke to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources about Mr. Johnston.

Exploring markets goes hand in hand with infrastructure. If you don't have the infrastructure, you don't have access to markets. So I assume those are variables that you have to consider. Is that correct?

When the government wants to get involved in infrastructure construction and major projects, what is its starting point if it doesn't have analyses showing that these projects are viable and cost-effective, and that the economic impact of that infrastructure can be beneficial for all Canadians?

That's pretty scary, isn't it?

Isn't that the role of the regulator?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Shannon Stubbs]

Here's the worst news ever: We're at the end of the time. As an opposition MP, I hate to say that, so I wonder if they could submit answers.

We'll go to the next round. That will be five minutes for Corey Tochor.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

What is the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission doing to ensure that it complies with the Government of Canada's buy Canadian policy?