Meeting summary: Key Points and Action Items
Participants
EAC participants: Allan Fogwill (Chair), Andrew Leach, Bradford Griffin, Michelle Robichaud, Sheldon Wuttunee
Statistics Canada (StatCan) participants: André Loranger, Augustine Akuoko-Asibey, Heidi Ertl, René Beaudoin, Jennifer Johnson, Angelo Elias, Emily Taylor-King, Kristin Loiselle-Lapointe, Kristin Daley
Federal observers: Nick Macaluso (Environment and Climate Change Canada), Meghan Ruholl (Canada Energy Regulator), Jeff Schmidtke (Natural Resources Canada)
Regrets: Bruce Lourie, Channa Perera, Louis Beaumier, Samantha Morton
Meeting Agenda
| Time |
Agenda |
Lead participants |
|---|---|---|
|
13:00-13:05 |
Introduction |
Allan Fogwill, Chair |
|
13:05-13:15 |
Opening remarks |
André Loranger |
|
13:15-13:30 |
Administrative updates |
Augustine Akuoko-Asibey |
|
13:30-13:50 |
Update on CCEI’s annual priority setting exercise |
Jennifer Johnson |
|
13:50-14:00 |
Demonstration of CCEI’s High Frequency Electricity Data (HFED) dashboard |
Kristin Loiselle-Lapointe |
|
14:00-14:10 |
Demonstration of CCEI’s SMDX Data Explorer |
Emily Taylor-King |
|
14:10-14:30 |
CCEI’s Value Proposition |
Heidi Ertl |
|
14:30-14:55 |
Roundtable |
All members |
Meeting Minutes
Introduction and Opening Remarks
Allan Fogwill, Chair of the EAC, kicked off the meeting by welcoming participants and new members, Michelle Robichaud and Sheldon Wuttanee, and provided an overview of the agenda.
André Loranger, Assistant Chief Statistician, Economic Statistics Field, made opening remarks and thanked members for their strategic advice and ongoing support for the CCEI initiative.
Augustine Akuoko-Asibey, Director General, delivered administrative updates on the CCEI, including confirming that the initiative has ongoing funding beyond the initial five years, that the collaborative governance model with federal, provincial, territorial partners will remain in place, and that engagement and advice from the EAC continues to be a critical element of the CCEI work planning and priority-setting. He noted that an evaluation of the initiative would begin shortly, and that members may be contacted by the StatCan or NRCan Evaluation team to participate in interviews. Finally, he solicited interest from members in participating as a co-chair for the EAC.
Action items:
- Members interested in participating on the committee as a co-chair should reach out to the CCEI team directly (heidi.ertl@statcan.gc.ca/statcan.ccei-ccie.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
CCEI Work plan and priorities
StatCan presented an update on the CCEI work plan and priority-setting process, including providing an overview of new energy information products produced since the last Committee meeting, a look at new content and tools to be added to the CCEI website in the coming months, and discussing next steps for getting Deputy-level endorsement of the work plan.
Members recognized the continued efforts of the CCEI. Advancing foundational data work remains a key priority for members, especially as it relates to reconciliation and standardization between federal and provincial/territorial data sets.
Demonstration of upcoming data tools
StatCan demonstrated the High Frequency Electricity Data (HFED) dashboard based on all existing publicly available electricity data from across Canada, which will be published this year on the CCEI website. Members were pleased with progress on the dashboard and were interested in being able to compare provincial and territorial data as well as access to more electricity data, including exports and imports. The CCEI is hoping to make more data available in the next iteration of the dashboard, which will have broader national coverage.
StatCan also demonstrated the new Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX)-based data explorer, a new feature which is scheduled to be released in beta version on the CCEI website in the coming months. The data explorer provides easy access to data sets, allows users to choose preferred views, and provides access to data through APIs, which allows users to connect directly to the data updated in real-time. The new feature will also allow for non-StatCan external data sets to be more easily ingested into the CCEI.
Action items:
- StatCan will provide members with a list of current data sources for the HFED dashboard.
CCEI’s Value Proposition
StatCan presented the CCEI’s value proposition and steps to achieve the ambitious vision of being a single point of access of high quality, complete, comparable energy for all users to access.
As it relates to the CCEI’s target audience, members noted that analysts - data, policy, technical, and economic - were the original driver of the need to create a CCEI, with a goal to of improving foundational data. A focus the needs of advanced users is critical, otherwise, data becomes too old, too aggregated and too suppressed, which for some is the biggest data concern.
Given the significance of the energy transition in terms of adjustments to the workforce, infrastructure needed, etc., we need to ensure that information is disseminated to Canadians from a reliable source. If reliable information isn’t available for the public, then the risk that misinformation will spread is higher.
Members recommended that the CCEI consider its work in two streams – the first being the data itself, which the CCEI can provide value through aggregation and data stewardship. And the second stream –providing access to products that take the data and turn it into something more consumable for the general public, including analysis and other information products, such as infographics and data visualizations. This split will allow the CCEI to focus on what developments are needed within each stream.
The CCEI should consider efforts that make ongoing improvements in terms of data consistency, more current data, more comprehensive data across energy types and validation of different data sets between different sources/level of government. Timeliness in publishing data was noted as a specific priority for EAC members, and members offered support to StatCan is speeding up the process, for example, by helping to get access to administrative data.
In addition, it was recommended that StatCan continue to look at ways to address concerns around data suppression. One way could be to mirror data from other available sources (e.g., export data, which is available through the Canadian International Merchandise Trade (CIMT) database), so that more complete data sets can be made accessible.
Members were supportive of StatCan’s plans for a “CCEI road show” with NRCan and offered support in identifying opportunities for outreach. It was also noted that there would be value to collaborate on Indigenous outreach to provide better access to energy statistics, for example related to on-reserve energy data, to compare on-reserve energy usage with provincial energy use.
Action items:
- EAC members will identify opportunities to provide support to StatCan in having discussions with data suppliers to increase access to administrative data sources.
- StatCan will provide members with information on upcoming engagement plans, including destinations for the 2023-24 CCEI road show; members will identify any additional opportunities for meetings or engagement sessions with stakeholders, Indigenous groups and data providers.