Natural Resources committee  Absolutely.

Natural Resources committee  That's an interesting question. Certainly all of the utility companies are subject to regulation, principally those that are in transmission distribution. Some of the generators, depending upon the province, of course, fall under provincial regulatory authorities. Their decisions that are made with respect to investments are reviewed by regulatory authorities.

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. It's been a principal preoccupation of the Electricity Association for seven or eight years; that's when we began doing some significant studies on this. With the assistance of the federal government, we established the human resources sector council for electricity a number of years ago.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your question. Yes, we're just starting to get a sense of what the impact is of time-of-use pricing. This is really very new in terms of how customers are going to respond to begin with, in terms of what kind of price differential is required to actually effect change.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your question. You are correct. For a while now, ever since the Conference Board of Canada report, the amount needed to cover the next 20 years has been pegged at $350 billion. While that may sound like a large number, I have just a couple of comments. We're essentially talking about, and I alluded to this in my opening comments, a system that was built a generation ago.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, it's distinctly possible. As I said, the work done by the Conference Board was for a business as usual case, for sure.

Natural Resources committee  In terms of our expectations from the federal government, it often comes down to ensuring that the conditions for investment are in place. We've often made suggestions with respect to capital cost allowance and tax treatment of assets. We continue at times to run into issues with respect to getting plants approved and plans approved on a go-forward basis.

Natural Resources committee  That's an excellent question. It's certainly something we think about and are concerned about. A couple of weeks ago I spent a day with a number of people across the country in the utilities distribution business and with Sustainable Development Technology Canada. They brought us together to look at 10 potential pilot projects that are being developed through SDTC's SD Tech Fund virtual incubator.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Canadian Electricity Association is the voice of Canada's electricity industry. Its members represent the entire electricity value chain, from producers and distributors to residential and industrial customers across the country. The electricity grid is the largest and most complex and interconnected machine in North America.

Natural Resources committee  We have done some work but it was prior to the creation of the major projects management office. It would be dated, but we can certainly get that information to the committee if it would be helpful. I think that a number of my members would respectfully disagree with the view that there isn't duplication.

Natural Resources committee  For years we've been discussing with officials in the department and with members of Parliament—

Natural Resources committee  I'm not certain if we formally provided a brief specifically in that context within the past year. It has been included, for example, in some of our pre-budget consultation documents over the last number of years. We've addressed issues of regulatory duplication, and at every opportunity and meeting that we've had with government officials it's something that we've discussed.

Natural Resources committee  Okay. The cost of the regulatory process will be different for every single project, so there isn't a specific percentage. Different types of projects have different types of costs. The other point, though, is that this chart only deals specifically with our industry and the federal government.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. If you look at some of the developments that have taken place in remote locations, for example in the James Bay region, and look at the challenges that they had there in developing large hydroelectric power in that region, and multiply that by four, that's basically what you're looking at.

Natural Resources committee  I don't have anything specifically on those, but generally, we're seeing a lot of innovation taking place broadly, not just in the electricity system around the world but also here in Canada. An example of a really innovative project that may have application elsewhere is a project that Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has been working on, specifically for remote communities served by diesel.