Natural Resources committee  With respect to ads in newspapers and the breakdown of those expenses, you should direct your questions to Gaétan Caron, the chair of the National Energy Board.

Natural Resources committee  I'm saying that the amounts are set aside for pipeline safety. It's normal that part of that amount be used to provide information to Canadians through the website, for example.

Natural Resources committee  As I said, that should be discussed with the chair of the National Energy Board.

Natural Resources committee  I will have to refer to those offshore boards to provide an answer. I don't have the breakdown for that either.

Natural Resources committee  I will be very happy to raise the issue with board's directors.

Natural Resources committee  What really is happening here, Mr. Chair, is that this funding had traditionally, historically, been provided through the CNSC, but it was sunsetting as of March 31, 2012. There may be a small increase, but those moneys were basically paid to the CNSC before. It was a sunset, and the government had to make a decision.

Natural Resources committee  In fact, I'm not sure I would dispute the word “unique”, because it's actually a very productive kind of partnership with National Defence, particularly with regard to the $1 million in the north. We at Natural Resources Canada basically run the polar continental shelf facility in Resolute Bay in the north.

Natural Resources committee  We are constantly looking for those kinds of opportunities. The two arms of the Geological Survey of Canada, for example, in both east and west are co-located with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in terms of those research facilities. We have other research facilities co-located with universities.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question. Mr. Chair, the NEB, National Energy Board, regulates in Canada more than 70,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines. Basically the amounts—I don't have the volume—but the value of the oil and gas shipped through those pipelines in 2010 was $85.5 billion.

Natural Resources committee  I'd rather get back to you on that part of it, but fundamentally it is cost recovered.

Natural Resources committee  Fundamentally, yes. The actual safety record, as the minister likes to mention, is 99.99996%. I may have one nine too many or too few there. Obviously, it is a very solid safety record that stands well in terms of international or other comparisons. That being said, it is always important to keep a focus on safety.

Natural Resources committee  Number one, the program did fund 640,000 Canadian households which benefited from $934 million in total program spending between 2007 and 2012. That clearly has had some significant economic impact, and also an impact in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There continues to be in the department a range of energy efficiency undertakings that we are pursuing.

Natural Resources committee  There are issues around ensuring that there's information available to households, to businesses, to industry, and various other ways—through research and technology and so forth—to try to grow the potential for this industry over time. Other things are happening in the economy that are trying to develop and foster the market for this.

Natural Resources committee  In these estimates there is an amount of $4 million that is funding for additional television and Internet advertising that will take place in 2013. There was also $5 million set out in supplementary estimates (A). In total there's $9 million. These funds are provided to inform Canadians about the responsible resource development initiative capacity of Canada, the potential, and directs Canadians to the actionplan.gc.ca website in order to learn more about resources and what those industries mean for Canada.

Natural Resources committee  It is all part of the government's overall advertising envelope that is allocated annually, based on the priorities of the government. Certainly the resource sector, representing 20% of the GDP in this country, is considered a priority for Canadians to become aware of.