Canada Energy Regulator – 2022–23 Departmental Plan

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s): The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Gitane De Silva

Ministerial portfolio: Natural Resources

Enabling instrument[s]: Canadian Energy Regulator Act (CER Act)Footnote 36

Year of incorporation / commencement: 2019

Other: The CER Act came into force on 28 August 2019.

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d’être

The CER regulates interprovincial and international pipelines and powerlines, offshore renewable energy projects, oil and natural gas operations in frontier areas, and energy trade.  The CER’s Mission is regulating infrastructure to ensure safe and efficient delivery of energy to Canadians and the world; protecting the environment; respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and providing timely and relevant energy information and analysis. The Minister of Natural Resources is responsible for this organization.

Information on the CER’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on the CER’s websiteFootnote 37.

Mandate

The CER’s mandate and role is detailed at Governance of the Canada Energy Regulator – Mandate, Roles and Responsibilities on the CER website.

In support of the Minister’s mandate, the CER is continuing to ensure efficient and effective implementation of the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) Act.

Information on the CER’s mandate letter commitments is available in the Minister’s mandate letterFootnote 38.

Operating context

The CER’s mission is to regulate infrastructure to ensure safe and efficient delivery of energy to Canada and the world; protect the environment; recognize and respect the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada; and provide timely and relevant energy information and analysis.

The CER’s vision is to be an energy regulator with an exemplary workforce that has the confidence of Canadians; is dedicated to ensuring safety and environmental sustainability; builds strong relationships with First Nations, the Métis, and the Inuit; and that enhances Canada’s global competitiveness.

External and internal factors that could affect the achievement of the CER’s planned results include:

COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

The CER continues to deliver its mandate without interruption, even as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the daily lives of all Canadians. The way we interact and how we work – from conducting inspections to engaging with Canadians – requires us to identify new and innovative ways to respond to our current context. We continue to closely monitor the rapidly evolving pandemic situation and are committed to assessing the effectiveness of temporary measures, and communicating them, as we move forward into 2022–23.

CER employees have responded to this unprecedented situation with innovative, creative solutions to carry on their work. Ensuring adequate IT infrastructure to support our remote working environment and providing the needed supports – from technical to mental health-related – for managers and staff, will help to see us through this challenging time.

The Business Continuity Plan (BCP) has been enhanced – and continue to evolve – based on (ongoing) lessons learned over the pandemic.  As of tabling of the CER’s Departmental Plan 2022–23, the BCP is still activated, so we continue to learn as we go.

Industry Safety

The CER works for Canadians to keep energy moving safely and efficiently through our country’s pipelines and powerlines. The organization carries out this function by setting and enforcing regulatory expectations for companies over the full lifecycle – construction, operation and abandonment – of energy related activities.

The CER’s commitment to keeping people safe is at the core of who it is and the work it does. Regulated companies are also required by the CER to anticipate, manage, and mitigate any potential harm to safety and the environment that may occur through the full lifecycle of their energy facilities.

The CER also promotes best practices to reduce the potential for harm and engages with the public, contractors, landowners, and municipalities to promote actions they can take to prevent damage to pipelines.

Cybersecurity

The CER is ever vigilant in working to prevent a cybersecurity breach to CER systems which could lead to unauthorized disclosure of protected CER data; and/or unauthorized alteration or destruction of CER data, IT systems or digital services; and/or disruption of CER system and inability to carry out daily operations. To mitigate this risk, the CER has several mitigations, including

  • Compliance with governance instruments and cybersecurity best practices and guidance from Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.
  • Continual improvement of CER cybersecurity posture.
  • Application and enforcement of security and IM/IT policies.
Indigenous Rights/Crown Consultation

The CER is committed to the ongoing process of Reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples of Canada and will continue to take meaningful actions in that direction. The organization’s efforts in advancing Reconciliation are supported by the tools found in the CER Act as well as a renewal of the CER’s relationship with Indigenous peoples – which is based upon the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.

The CER delivers Crown consultation activities with the guiding principle of advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. For the CER, this means emphasizing early and collaborative exchanges with Indigenous peoples based on a recognition of rights and enhancing the transparency of the Crown consultation process.

As the CER implements its Crown consultation role, it will look for opportunities to continually improve its approach - listening and learning from Indigenous peoples; however, there is a risk that CER does not meaningfully carry out Crown consultation with Indigenous peoples or adequately recognize and respect Indigenous rights, leading to inadequately addressing, avoiding, or minimizing any adverse impacts on Indigenous peoples’ rights. 

To mitigate this risk, CER is undertaking several activities including:

  • Developing clear communication products and messaging to Indigenous peoples, proponent, stakeholders, and the Commission.
  • Structured review and learn opportunities to enable improvements, adjustments in a timely manner.
  • Increased involvement and partnership with other federal departments and agencies to raise awareness of CER’s Crown consultation role, set clear expectations of supporting the CER in this role, and for the CER to inform federal policy/program initiatives and learn best practices.
  • Strategic input from Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC), via Board of Directors, collaboration internally amongst the Business Units responsible for and involved in Crown consultation, Reconciliation and relationships, monitoring and oversight, and engagement with Indigenous peoples to leverage organizational initiatives to respond to Indigenous peoples’ concerns.
Sustainability of Funding

The CER has temporary funding expiring (Budget 2017 IAMC funding: 2021–22, Budget 2018 CER Implementation funding: 2022–23, Data Information Innovation Initiative funding: 2021–22) in the future which may be challenging to obtain renewal given the current economic situation.

The CER sought and received additional funding in previous years for transitioning to new impact assessment and regulatory processes, Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committees, as well as supports for making data available digitally to Canadians to implement sustained change stemming from implementing the CER Act and from internal and external operational context. This funding was allocated on a temporary basis while all these requirements exist as part of a modern, well-functioning regulatory organization. In future years, the Canadian Energy Regulator would benefit from a renewal and rollover of temporary funding for these efforts into ongoing and stable funding.

Workforce

People are the CER’s most critical asset, but the risk does exist that the CER may not be able to adequately attract, retain, and develop a diverse, inclusive and modernized workforce which could result in an erosion of CER culture and decreased productivity. As such, the CER is examining its own workplace practices to ensure that it is building a culture that is diverse and inclusive, where all staff feel valued and respected. In support of its people, the CER also enhanced employee engagement opportunities, internal communications and training, while continuing to deliver staffing, compensation, training, awards and recognition programs.

Reporting framework

The CER has incorporated wording updates to some Core Responsibility descriptions to reflect new CER legislated responsibilities. The CER has also updated some departmental result and indicator wording to reflect CER legislation and improvements.

The CER’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022–23 are as follows:

Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2022-23

Graphic description
Reporting framework

Departmental Results Framework

Core Responsibility 1:
Energy Adjudication

Core Responsibility 2:
Safety and Environment Oversight

Core Responsibility 3:
Energy Information

Core Responsibility 4:
Engagement

Internal Services

Departmental Result: Energy Adjudication processes are fair.

  • Indicator: Percentage of adjudication decisions overturned on judicial appeal related to procedural fairness.

Departmental Result: Harm to people or the environment, throughout the lifecycle of energy-related activities, is prevented.

  • Indicator: Number of serious injuries and fatalities related to regulated infrastructure.

  • Indicator: Number of incidents related to regulated infrastructure that harm the environment.

  • Indicator: Percentage of unauthorized activities on regulated infrastructure that involve repeat violators.

Departmental Result: Canadians access and use energy information for knowledge, research or decision-making.

  • Indicator: Evidence that Canadians access and use CER energy information products and specialized expertise, including community-specific information, for knowledge, research or decision-making.

Departmental Result: Input provided by Indigenous peoples and stakeholders influences the Canada Energy Regulator's decisions and work.

  • Indicator: Evidence that input from Indigenous peoples and stakeholders influences the Canada Energy Regulator's decisions and work.

Departmental Result: Energy Adjudication processes are transparent.

  • Indicator: Percentage of surveyed participants who indicate that adjudication processes are transparent.

Departmental Result: Energy Adjudication processes are transparent.

  • Indicator: Percentage of surveyed participant who indicate that adjudication processes are transparent.

Departmental Result: Canandians have opportunities to collaborate and provide feedback on Canada Energy Regulator information products.

  • Indicator: Number of opportunities that Canadians have to collaborate and provide feedback on energy information products.

Departmental Result: Indigenous peoples and stakeholders provide feedback that engagement with the Canada Energy Regulator is meaningful.

  • Indicator: Percentage of participants in engagement activities who indicate that the engagement was meaningful.

Departmental Result: Energy Adjudication processes are accessible.

  • Indicator: Percentage of surveyed participant funding recipients who agree that participant funding enabled their participation in an adjudication process.

Program Inventory

Program: Infrastructure, Tolls, and Export Applications

Program: Company Performance

Program: Energy System Information

Program: Stakeholder Engagement

 

Program: Participant Funding

Program: Management System and Industry Performance

Program: Pipeline Information

Program: Indigenous Engagement

 

Program: Emergency Management

 

 

 

Program: Regulatory Framework

 

 

Information on the operating context is available on the CER’s websiteFootnote 39.

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