Natural Resources Canada
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NOTES FOR A SPEECH
BY
THE HONOURABLE RALPH GOODALE
MINISTER
OF NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA
AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR WASCANA
FOR
THE SENIOR MANAGERS' CONFERENCE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
JUNE 11, 1998
Check against delivery
Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here this morning.
This is my first Senior Managers' Conference since I was appointed Minister
of Natural Resources. What makes it doubly significant for me is that, by
coincidence, today is also the first anniversary of my appointment to this
portfolio.
I see that you have a very busy and broad agenda ahead of you.
It has been a fascinating year, and a very busy one. I have spent a lot of
time trying to learn as much as possible about the issues we face as a
department. I have also tried to meet with as many members of the NRCan team as
possible, so as to gain a better understanding of the people upon whom this
department depends.
Although I have not had the opportunity to meet all of you, I want you to
know that your dedication and hard work has not gone unnoticed by me. I commend
you for your efforts, and I ask you to pass along my thanks to all your
colleagues and staff. Their commitment and contributions, and the various NRCan
operations from one end of the country to the other, are important and
appreciated.
It has also been a challenging year. One that has seen us make progress on
some very difficult files. But the year ahead will not be boring. We still
have a few hot issues which will require our highest vigilance. Heading that
list is climate change.
It is imperative that we not simply strive to stay on top of this file,
thereby dealing with the issue in a reactive manner. We must take a leadership
position which is pro-active and results driven.
I will come back to the subject of climate change, but first, I want to
discuss what I see as the priorities of this department over the next year or
two.
As a nation, Canada will enter the new millennium with three
back-to-back-to-back balanced budgets in a row — the first time that's been
accomplished in 50 years. This will allow us to be economically competitive and
will give us the ability to take advantage of the opportunities which confront
us.
However, to really excel in an era marked by rapid and relentless change and
unprecedented competition, we must make our own opportunities and not wait for
fortune to smile on us. As a country, we must place ourselves on the leading
edge of innovation, able to compete in the knowledge-based, technology-driven
global society in which we live.
It is my conviction that Canada's resource-based industries will play a
vital role in the new, high-tech century. And it is up to NRCan to assist
resource industries in positioning themselves to excel in the information age.
The performance, skills and capabilities required of and in those industries
will be every bit as sophisticated as in any other sector.
Canada must enter the 21st century as the world's smartest natural resources
developer: the most high-tech; the most productive; the most environmentally
friendly; and the most socially responsible.
Succeeding at that combination of factors is vitally important because our
natural resources sectors account for 14 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic
Product; $95 billion annually; 1.75 million high-skilled, well-paying jobs in
over 500 communities, especially those that are rural and remote; and 22 percent
of the country's new capital investment. And 38 percent of Canada's total
exports are derived from natural resources ($65 billion each year).
The plan which will guide the actions of this department over the next
little while is contained in our framework document, the Work and Innovation
Strategy: Winning in the Knowledge-Based Economy (WINS). Among the
stated priorities is a commitment to work toward strengthening our partnerships
with the private sector. We must also make investors throughout the world aware
of our strong competitive advantage in science and technology.
NRCan is Canada's foremost centre of scientific knowledge and research for
energy, minerals and metals, forests and earth sciences. Our researchers and
scientists are winning awards nationally and internationally for their
contributions.
An example is Dr. Krystina Klimaszewska, of the Canadian Forest Service, who
will soon receive a Public Service Award of Excellence for 1998. And Mahi Sahoo
was the recipient of the 1997 Dofasco Award for his contributions to the field
of material engineering. These are just two of the respected scientists who are
part of our team.
The federal government, in partnership with other levels of government,
academia and the private sector, is leading the development of a national
information infrastructure with the goal of making Canada the most connected
nation on earth. Barriers which prevent individuals and communities from
participating in the new economy are being brought down.
We are also empowering Canadians with the skills and abilities to thrive in
the international marketplace. That is what our Opportunities Strategy in the
last federal budget was all about. Our efforts, as a government, are aimed at
fostering a commitment to lifelong learning and to building bridges between
school and the workplace.
But in order to make the greatest use of the information technology
infrastructure, and our individual and collective talent and skills, Canadians
must have information, or content. Having the pipeline is important. Having
the technology to run the pipeline is important, but content is vitally
important. This is where Natural Resources Canada can play a significant role.
As a department, we are natural content providers as 75 percent of our
budget is committed to science and technology. One example of invaluable
content from this Department is the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure, or
as I like to refer to it, GeoDataLink.
Being first in the race to develop the ability to seamlessly integrate
geospatial data will allow Canadian companies to market both the technology, and
the content that technology enables, around the world. In the new
knowledge-based and technology-driven economy — where the efficient and
sophisticated use of information is fundamental — GeoDataLink, or the
Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure, is a strong example of vital Canadian
content.
This increased focus on natural resources as a knowledge-based sector has
its challenges. There are fewer jobs in traditional resource sector
occupations. On the other hand, we are already seeing shortages of skilled
workers in some fields, such as geomatics, forestry and the oil and gas
industries. This is particularly an issue in our rural and remote communities
and for Aboriginal Canadians.
I want to see us building more opportunities for young people and for rural
and Aboriginal communities to take advantage of new possibilities in the natural
resources industries. As you know, I am Federal Interlocutor for Métis
and Non-Status Indians. Back in January, along with the Minister of Indian
Affairs and Northern Development, I was part of the launch of Canada's
Aboriginal Action Plan. A key focus of this action plan is increasing
opportunities for employment and for economic development and stability in these
communities.
Coming from Saskatchewan, I am familiar with the special challenges facing
small, often isolated, communities that are heavily dependent on natural
resources for their economic development and employment, income and a decent
standard of living. There are 652 such communities in Canada. Part of our
focus at NRCan must be on them.
Many of NRCan's activities, including GeoDataLink, business development
opportunities related to environmental and climate change technologies, and
value-added processes and services, can contribute to strengthening and
revitalizing Canada's rural socio- economic landscape.
In addition to facilitating the development of new, value-added companies on
the domestic front, we intend to expand our efforts to open up new international
markets for Canadian resource-connected industries and firms. We have
world-class products, services and technologies to bring to the global
marketplace.
It is my intention to lead a series of Team Canada-style trade missions, as
part of WINS, to promote our excellent resource-related companies and their
products. The first of these missions will be in the fall, when I expect to
lead a team of business and industry people to Latin America, a market that is
wide open for the kinds of services and technologies at which we excel in
Canada.
I also want to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of NRCan's
policy role. We have a critically important contribution to make in shaping the
policy environment of the Government of Canada. It is our job to make sure that
federal policies and regulations are designed to facilitate the contribution of
natural resources to Canada's economy in an environmentally and socially
responsible manner.
For example, thanks to our efforts, we now have in place programs such as
the Federal Buildings Initiative and the Voluntary Challenge and Registry
Program. We are working with the Government of the Northwest Territories on a
process for assessing the cumulative impact of proposed mining projects in
ecologically sensitive regions. We are examining the outlook for nuclear energy
as part of Canada's energy strategy, looking at comparative costs, supply
projections, environmental factors, and most recently, a range of very serious
international factors.
Our policy contribution is crucial on the international front too. I refer,
for instance, to
- our leadership in the climate change effort;
- our provision of expert advice to Canadian delegations negotiating
international agreements on controls over explosives to help combat crime and
terrorism; and
- our role in the International Forestry Partnership Program, which
emphasizes Canada's concept of sustainable forest development, and attempts to
export that policy globally.
Our policy role is connected to our commitment to good governance, meeting
our responsibilities to the federal, provincial and territorial governments, the
Canadian public and the international community.
To accomplish this, we are actively forging new strategic alliances and
partnerships.
Just last month I had the inaugural meeting of my Advisory Council on
Science and Technology, which is a good step toward meeting this goal of
strategic partnerships. The Chair of the Advisory Council, Dr. Alan Pelman, is
here today and will be speaking to you later this afternoon, so I'll leave it to
him to talk about the role this important group will play. I do want to say,
however, that I am most pleased to have such an eminent gathering of experts
prepared to offer their strategic advice in terms of what our ongoing science
and technology focus needs to be.
Let me now turn to that other topic I want to touch on this morning —
our environment and the battle against greenhouse gases. If there was ever a
challenge that demanded massive partnerships and urgent attention, this is it.
Climate change is a truly global issue. Greenhouse gas emissions do not
respect national boundaries, and their impact on the climate is gradual,
creeping toward serious consequences almost imperceptibly over time. But now is
the time to take the appropriate action to forestall those consequences.
Like buying an insurance policy, you cannot get the protection you should
have had, after the fact.
This was the essential message delivered to Canadians this past week by an
eminent group of 25 recipients of the Order of Canada, who gathered together for
several weeks of study and deliberation on the issue of climate change.
They acknowledged the scientific and economic uncertainties, but as a matter
of prudence and common sense, they called for mitigative action beginning at a
more accelerated pace, right now. And they said that we all — governments
at all levels, business and industry, non- governmental organizations, the
scientific community and individual citizens — we all need to join in a "smart
partnership" solution.
That is precisely what the Government of Canada is seeking to achieve. We
don't want just a "made-in-Ottawa" approach, or just a"made-in-government"
approach. We want to be inclusive and transparent, leading a truly Team Canada
effort to fulfil our international obligations.
Those obligations are significant. Under the Kyoto Protocol of December
1997, Canada is committed to bringing its overall emissions of greenhouse gases
down to six percent below the level they were at in 1990 and to reach that
target by the period between 2008 and 2012. The Japanese made the same
commitment as we did. The Americans are at minus seven. The Europeans are at
minus eight.
From a competitive point of view, we're very much in the ballpark with the
commitments made by our major trading partners — especially the United
States. But still, our task (and theirs) is large.
Compared against where Canada's emissions are expected to climb over the
next 10 to 12 years under any realistic "business-as-usual"
projection, we will need to achieve a cut of about 20 to 25 percent to meet our
Kyoto obligations. It won't be easy, but we must not fail.
The Prime Minister has set up the necessary machinery within the Government
of Canada to manage and lead on this crucial file and NRCan is playing a central
role. As Minister of Natural Resources and Chair of the Cabinet Committee for
the Economic Union, my responsibility is domestic implementation.
Our 1998 federal budget created a Climate Change Action Fund with an initial
commitment of $150 million over three years — to lay the short-term
foundation for longer-term solutions, to support federal cooperation with all
other public sector/private sector partners, to launch an informative "public
outreach" campaign to engage all Canadians and to trigger early action and
quick starts.
Environment Minister Christine Stewart and I have consulted with a wide
range of private sector stakeholders and non-governmental organizations to get
their advice and their buy-in and thus far, the response has been surprisingly
encouraging. We have also met with all of our provincial and territorial
counterparts. Consistent with a mandate given by the Prime Minister and the
Premiers, we are working toward a collaborative National Implementation Strategy
— one that gets to where we need to be, with no region being asked to bear
an unreasonable share of the burden.
A series of inclusive and representative "Issues Tables" are now
getting under way to focus on key elements of our climate change challenge,
bringing partners to the table in each case. The topics to date include
Modelling and Analysis, Transportation, Electricity, International Emissions
Trading, Technology, Carbon Sinks, Credit for Early Action, and Public Outreach.
There will be more.
In broad terms, I suspect our ultimate approach to this tough issue of
climate change will utilize three parallel approaches:
Firstly, we will pursue the international flexibility tools which we fought
for and won in Kyoto — emissions trading, joint implementation projects
with credit among developed countries, the Clean Development Mechanism in the
developing world, and the proper inclusion and calculation of carbon sinks.
Another tool we will utilize is some form of market-based economic
instrument. The concept most often discussed currently is a variation on "international
emissions trading," adapted to domestic circumstances. Various options
will be carefully examined for their cost- effectiveness and fairness.
And thirdly, we will need a broad range of complementary measures, like
tangible credit for early action, to broaden, deepen and strengthen activity in
the private sector. A more aggressive campaign for energy conservation and
efficiency, involving more and better information, stronger promotion,
incentives, regulation and government leadership-by-example.
More diversity in our energy sources, increasing the availability and use of
alternative fuels and renewable power from hydro, solar, wind, earth and
bioenergy. More co-generation and district energy systems. Major investments
in new technology development and deployment.
Possible new technologies come in many forms. And they're truly exciting.
They hold the potential not just for responsible action against greenhouse
gases, but also for new businesses, new jobs, advanced economic sophistication
and export opportunities.
A classic success story can be found in the Minerals and Metals Sector,
where research has discovered the potential for significant energy savings
through using fly ash, a waste product from burning coal, in the production of
concrete. Early analyses estimate that, by replacing 60 percent of cement with
fly ash, we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Canada by up to three million
tonnes per year, and internationally by up to 100 million tonnes per year.
In the field of construction and retrofitting technologies, Rose Technology
Group is among several companies advancing environmental goals, while reaping
economic benefits. There are other examples of value-added industries which are
contributing to our environmental well-being, and their own economic bottom
line:
- Ballard Power Systems, in Vancouver, has developed a fuel cell that offers
great potential for reducing automotive greenhouse gas emissions. And very
nearly 30 percent of emissions come from the transportation sector. Vancouver's
Rapid Transit System is piloting the use of these fuel cells. NRCan was
heavily involved with Ballard in the early stages of the research behind this
new technology. Fifteen years ago, when NRCan invested in Ballard, people
wondered if it was a prudent move. It was a very prudent and forward-looking
investment, and now Ford, Daimler-Benz and Mazda are making multimillion-dollar
investments in refining this new technology.
- Conservall Engineering is exporting its solar wall heating technology to
Japan.
- A Lethbridge entrepreneur has perfected a natural gas cargo motorcycle and
is going after a new billion-dollar market in Southeast Asia.
In all these examples, NRCan has been involved at a very early stage.
I can think of many other small- and medium-sized enterprises springing up
all over the country, supplying a wide range of products, technologies and
services that enable resource firms to work smarter — faster, cleaner, more
efficiently and more cost-effectively. These companies are adding value to the
Canadian resource sector. They also have the potential to become global
suppliers of knowledge products. One of our goals should be to make Canada the
place the world comes to, to see the best ideas.
The fight against climate change has to be a collective one, but I am proud
to say that NRCan is already taking a lead on the issue.
For example, we recently created the Office of Energy Efficiency to
strengthen the impact of energy efficiency programs. We have led in the
creation of a mechanism called TEAM — Technology Early Action Measures. We
developed and negotiated the federal/provincial stakeholders' climate change
process, which was agreed to at the joint energy and environment ministers'
meeting earlier this spring.
Underpinning this action to reduce emissions must be a parallel scientific
effort to understand the impact of climate change on our lives. The Department
has much of the national scientific expertise in remote sensing, geological
processes and the history of the recent past that are needed now to adapt to
what may be a very different future.
A dimension to Kyoto that is of particular interest to Canada is the
treatment of forests as a means of carbon sequestration and storage. We are
working cooperatively with provinces and territories to fully explore the
opportunities presented here. As well, we are developing a National Forest
Information System to serve our information needs in this area.
Having said all that, I should repeat that our climate change activities are
part and parcel of our overall WINS action plan, which aims to combine strong
environmental policy and strong economic policy. The two are not mutually
exclusive. We can, and indeed we must, have both. And just as Industry Canada
is leading in the exciting initiative to make Canada the most connected nation
in the world, NRCan will lead in the sustainable development ethic for the next
century.
The natural resources sector continues to be one of the principal engines of
Canada's prospering economy, generating employment and a standard of living that
is the envy of the world. The Natural Resources Canada team will continue to
play a vital role in promoting, safeguarding and developing this sector on
behalf of the federal government and the country as a whole.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier said that the 20th century belonged to Canada. Well, as
a country I think we've done quite well. But here we are at the doorstep of a
new century and a new millennium. We are looking to the future with eagerness
and with uncertainty, in about equal measure. We have opportunities to seize,
or opportunities to miss. But if we miss them, we will be in trouble,
economically and environmentally.
As senior managers in this Department, your watchwords must be:
- vision and innovation;
- an ability to think outside the box and capture a sense of the future;
- a passion to communicate our vision, our science and technology, and the
vital importance of the natural resources sector to Canadians;
- an astute marriage between economic, social and environmental priorities;
and
- the will to help this country thrive in the new millennium.
Leadership, ladies and gentlemen, is what we need, and leadership is what I
think we can deliver together, as a cohesive team — not isolated in our
vertical silos, but fully integrated and always mutually supportive.
I wish you a successful conference, and I look forward to working together
with you on the challenges ahead for the Department and for Canada. I believe
NRCan can be a leader in shaping the kind of country we want to have in the next
century.
Thank you.
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