Opening remarks by the Chief Statistician - Canadian Centre for Energy Information May 12, 2021 Meeting
I'm honoured to be speaking to you from Ottawa, the unceded territory of the Algonquin people – and to show respect to all the Indigenous people who have walked these lands.
I would like to welcome you to this meeting of the External Advisory Committee for the CCEI. I am extremely grateful and excited about your participation on this important strategic committee, which is critical to the long-term success of this initiative.
Over the past year, your advice, insights and contributions have been essential in our quest to begin addressing a long-term gap that Canadians have faced with respect to centralized, integrated, and quality energy data to enable analysis and inform decision making.
We all witnessed the substantial impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the energy sector at a critical time in history as countries race to address climate change.
Canadian production of crude oil and equivalent products saw the largest annual decline since 1999, while pandemic-related measures resulted in reduced electricity demand from industrial and commercial consumers.
In fact, electricity generation in 2020 fell to the lowest level of production since 2015.
In parallel, as part of the energy transition, utilities dialed back electricity generation from combustible fuels and nuclear generation in favour of electricity generation from renewable sources – reflecting the growing drive and commitment to pursue cleaner energy sources.
In 2020, electricity generation from renewables rose to their highest level since the beginning of this series in 2008!
This transition will result in new jobs as investments are made; however, there will also be an impact on traditional oil and gas jobs in the energy sector many of which employ various marginalized groups such as immigrants and Indigenous people.
Now more than ever, Canadians need quality data on the energy sector to inform policy and investment decisions by public and private sector organizations. The CCEI has a vital role to play towards providing data and insights to support the post-COVID-19 recovery phase and the transformation of our energy sector that the government and private sector partners strive to achieve towards a net-zero scenario.
Your participation this past year has helped support us in achieving some really important and exciting foundational milestones to house this information.
We launched a user-centric website in October 2020, currently reflecting more than 550 data sets from over 80 data providers from across Canada - forming the foundation for the program for the eventual addition of more robust data collection and integration in coming years and for the roll out more powerful tools enabling modelling and collaboration.
In addition, your advice was fed into the CCEI's federal-provincial-territorial collaborative governance process, which culminated in approval by Deputy Minister Tremblay's and my colleagues across provincial/territorial energy ministries, the Canada Energy Regulator, and Environment and Climate Change Canada, of an extensive work plan for 2021.
Our work plan and priorities were endorsed with overwhelming support for the work that we are doing. Each one of you has played an important role in your area of expertise – your insights ensured that diverse perspectives and needs across Canada were considered.
Over the past year, we have also launched a variety of new interactive data tools, analytical articles and other exciting products through the CCEI, improving the accessibility of relevant energy information: new tools to track trends on energy use for various industries and households, infographics on zero-emission electric vehicles and data and tools on GHG emissions of energy industries.
For example, we released infographics and analysis on labour displacement in coal mining and oil and gas to provide insights on how workers in these industries fared a year after job loss. We found that nearly three-quarters of workers permanently laid-off found paid employment in the year following job loss, but the jobs were predominantly outside the sector and at lower pay.
This is just the start of our work – we all know we have a lot more work to do. But I am proud of all the work we have done to date and the exciting partnerships we have created to build a strong foundation for the CCEI.
I expect more great things from this program in the coming year, including additional data tools and products to support user needs.
In the 2021-22 federal budget, the federal government announced plans for significant investment in Statistics Canada to better integrate social, economic and environmental data, disaggregated at much finer levels into our core programs throughout the agency. This will enable Statistics Canada to expand its role in providing the evidence-based foundation upon which strong, effective policies can be built.
As an example, later this summer the CCEI will share highly anticipated tools that will provide rich information on demographics in the energy sector, including participation of women, Indigenous peoples and new immigrants – obtained through analysis of rich data sets from the Natural Resources Satellite Account.
This data provides powerful insights into energy workforce, for example:
Women represent just under one-third of the total energy workforce, where the wage-gap between the sexes has declined from 78 cents per dollar in 2009 to 85 cents per dollar in 2019.
Immigrant workers in the oil and gas sector accounted for 41% of workers in the sector in 2019, up from 26% in 2009.
Indigenous people represented 6% of all workers in the oil and gas sector, compared to 4% in 2009.
We will also continue to make progress towards establishing common standards and data reconciliation with FPT partners, as well as ongoing work with NRCan and the CER on our real-time electricity data initiative.
With so many varying needs and interests to consider in creating integrated and trusted data for the CCEI, ongoing strategic priority setting is critical to our success, so that our resources are invested in the most impactful areas.
I am excited to see the rich experience and backgrounds you collectively bring to the table as we start the deep dives required to achieve the CCEI objectives of creating a space for trusted, coherent, and high quality energy information. With our focus this year on data reconciliation on initial topics identified in the CCEI work plan and development of energy standards, your knowledge, advice and especially your networks will continue to play a key role on ensuring the relevance and credibility of the CCEI.
This work cannot be done by Statistics Canada alone – we need to bring the right data experts to the table, and collectively, we can make a meaningful difference. We will look to you for help in identifying these contacts.
In addition, we must keep working in our agile and iterative way, so that we are responsive to stakeholder needs, and that we are constantly shifting to reflect current priorities in the CCEI's annual work plans. We will continue to be open, transparent, and inclusive – building strategic partnerships and continuously engaging with a diverse group of stakeholders and Indigenous communities.
Thank you again for your support, and I look forward to leveraging your insights and advice through this committee to support informed decisions by the FPT Deputy Minister Steering Committee to establish the key priorities for this program to tackle over the next few years.
