Natural Resources committee  To add a few more comments to what Greg outlined below, it's important to note that individual retailers of propane base their contracts with their suppliers on historical demand. They sign up either for variable-price contacts, or in some cases fixed-price contracts, based on what they estimate the demand from their customers will be for the season.

Natural Resources committee  That is correct, with the exception of energy transportation across provincial or international borders where our National Energy Board colleagues issue export licences for the export of propane or other commodities. In an emergency situation, or in a period of temporary market disruption, it is the provincial governments that have the primary responsibility.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question. The management of energy resources in Canada is indeed a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial governments. The provincial governments are the owners of resources within their provincial boundaries. They have the primary responsibility for regulating their development, including the exploration, production, gathering, and transmission of energy within their borders, as well as the downstream use of that energy within their market: the local distribution, storage, and marketing, as well as energy prices within provincial boundaries.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Chair. Good morning, members. It's a pleasure to be here today to support your study on propane markets. Natural Resources Canada seeks to enhance the responsible development and use of Canada's natural resources. The department develops policies and programs to enhance the contribution of the natural resource sector to the Canadian economy.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I'm sorry, I don't have any specific examples to be able to highlight—

Natural Resources committee  As Jay was indicating, we do have in place in Canada a comprehensive environmental and regulatory regime, which was put in place to manage the risk associated with resource development activities, both at the federal level and at the provincial level. These requirements create obligations on industry to be able to manage and study environmental impacts and obligations that create employment directly in environmental monitoring-type activities to study and manage the risks associated with development.

Natural Resources committee  Thanks, Jay. I think you covered things quite well. To reiterate, it is a global market that we're competing against. If we don't move forward and capitalize on this opportunity we have here in Canada, our competitors will. There are significant opportunities and significant proposed investments, in the United States, in Australia, in other countries, in terms of oil and gas development.

Natural Resources committee  I'm not aware of the specific study that you're mentioning, but would like to clarify a couple of points in this regard. Overall regulation of shale gas development in Canada is within provincial jurisdiction. The Government of Canada is obviously committed to supporting the responsible development of all of our resources going forward.

Natural Resources committee  As you mentioned, there is a study that has been commissioned. We anticipate that study will be released in the first half of this year. We don't have a precise timing at this point in time for when that study will be available.

Natural Resources committee  As Jay indicated in his presentation, another element of this to highlight is not only the employment impacts, but the energy sector also contributes a significant amount of revenue to various levels of government, which pay for a whole series of important social programs that benefit Canadians right across the country.