Canada Energy Regulator – 2023–24 Departmental Plan

Canada Energy Regulator – 2023–24 Departmental Plan [PDF 1196 KB]

Copyright/Permission to Reproduce

ISSN 2562-9735

Table of contents

• Message from the Chairperson
• Message from the CEO
• Plans at a glance
• Core responsibilities: planned results and resources
  • Energy Adjudication
  • Safety and Environment Oversight
  • Energy Information
  • Engagement
• Internal services: planned results
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Planned spending
  • Planned human resources
  • Estimates by vote
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Corporate information
  • Organizational profile
  • Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
  • Operating context
  • Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

Message from the Chairperson

On behalf of the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), I am proud to submit our 2023–24 Departmental Plan.

The 2023–24 fiscal year will be the final year of our three-year Strategic Plan, which is grounded in four interconnected and interdependent Strategic Priorities: Trust and Confidence, Reconciliation, Competitiveness, and Data and Digital Innovation. When we launched our Strategic Plan in 2021, we knew we were driving at systemic change in all areas of the CER, from the way we recruit staff to how we release Commission decisions on federally regulated energy infrastructure. We knew there would be challenges along the way; however, two years on, I am proud to say that the CER has not wavered in its commitment. The CER’s progress over the past two years toward achieving this Strategic Plan has resulted in real benefits for Canadians.

The energy context in Canada is changing rapidly. We are in the midst of one of the most significant energy transitions we will experience in our lifetimes. As Canada’s federal energy regulator, the CER has an essential role to play in this energy transition, while enhancing and innovating our regulatory approaches. We must ensure Canada’s federal energy systems can compete on a global scale, maintain a strict focus on safety and environmental sustainability, and earn both Canadians’ and CER staff trust and confidence while doing so. Underpinning these efforts is our drive towards a data and digital culture of innovation. And we know that none of this will be possible without the input, guidance, and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples.

If we are to advance our Strategic Plan, we must continue on our path of Reconciliation by working with Indigenous Peoples to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples^Footnote 1 (UN Declaration), a commitment that comes directly from our guiding legislation, the Canadian Energy Regulator Act^Footnote 2 (CER Act). As part of this commitment, the CER includes Indigenous perspectives in all aspects of our work. A big part of our work advancing Reconciliation is guided by our Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC), which provides expert advice directly to the Board of Directors.

We also rely heavily on effective collaboration with the Commission of the CER, who represent the adjudication arm of the CER’s work. The Commission plays an essential role in the overall delivery of our mandate and our Strategic Plan, and I am grateful for their expertise. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Damien Côté, our former Lead Commissioner, who left the CER in August after six years of service with first, the National Energy Board and then the CER. We are fortunate to have benefited from Damien’s tireless work ethic and his commitment to excellence. I welcome and thank our new Lead Commissioner, Mark Watton, for a smooth transition to this critical role.

Our Strategic Plan is ambitious. It is bold. And it is achievable. We will continue to leverage science, data, Indigenous knowledge, and our collective ingenuity to build an effective and efficient regulatory system Canadians can trust.

Cassie Doyle
Chairperson
Board of Directors of the Canada Energy Regulator

Message from the CEO

In looking to the next year, the CER will continue to always place safety at the forefront as we continue to evolve as a regulator to meet the needs of Canada’s changing energy landscape.

This work will be led by the CER’s expert staff who live and work coast-to-coast-to-coast, and who will do so in a hybrid work environment. The CER is poised to tackle the opportunities of the 2023–24 fiscal year, leveraging the technologies and virtual efficiencies we have adopted since the pandemic began, while also increasing in person work for our staff to connect and collaborate in the CER’s offices across the country. We are designing a new way of working that supports the organizational culture we want to achieve – a culture founded in equity and inclusion.

As a lifecycle regulator, we work hard every day on behalf of all Canadians to ensure that energy infrastructure is designed and operated to the highest standards. Our commitment to safety is steadfast, and our plan for the coming year remains rooted in the cross-organizational areas of focus and improvement set out in the CER’s three-year Strategic Plan. As we begin the final year of this plan, we continue to be guided by a bold vision and our Strategic Priorities: Trust and Confidence, Reconciliation, Competitiveness and Data and Digital Innovation.

These priorities provide additional focus as we deliver on our core responsibilities of safety and environment oversight; energy adjudication; energy information; and engagement.

Over the next year, the CER will continue its drive to enhance a regulatory system that is clear, efficient, and scalable; a system that Canadians can trust. We will do this by leveraging technology to make routine interactions with the CER easier. Our staff will experiment with ways to simplify and streamline low-risk regulatory matters. We will continue our vigilant focus on preventing harm to people, communities, and the environment.

We will continue our comprehensive review of the Onshore Pipeline Regulations^Footnote 3, actioning what we heard through engagement with industry, Indigenous Peoples and stakeholders to deliver improved regulatory oversight through advances in safety, security, and environmental protection – and to further advance Reconciliation. Our flagship publication, Canada’s Energy Future^Footnote 4, will for the first time include modelling consistent with Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We will continue to implement our Diversity and Belonging Roadmap and establish an Indigenous recruitment and retention strategy. Longer-term, work is underway to prepare to regulate the transition to a low-carbon economy, including possibilities such as applications to transport hydrogen through CER-regulated pipelines, and to develop and produce offshore renewables. We will also continue to support Canada’s climate commitments to achieve net-zero by 2050 through our energy information work and by clarifying how the Commission of the CER will assess greenhouse gas emissions in project applications.

Longer-term, work is underway to prepare to regulate the transition to a low-carbon economy, including possibilities such as applications to transport hydrogen through CER-regulated pipelines, and to develop and produce offshore renewables. We will also continue to support Canada’s climate commitments to achieve net-zero by 2050 through our energy information work and by clarifying how the Commission of the CER will assess greenhouse gas emissions in project applications.

The specific deliverables of this plan go well beyond these highlights, and the ambitious and deliberate actions we will take as an organization to advance each of our priorities and improve our regulatory performance. This will require dedication and innovation – and I can assure you, we are up to the task.

Gitane De Silva
Chief Executive Officer
Canada Energy Regulator

Date modified:

2023-02-10