Canada Energy Regulator – 2021–22 Departmental Results Report – Results at a glance

The CER has a clear path forward – with a bold VisionFootnote 8 and priorities that focus the future direction of our organization. The CER’s commitment to safety and oversight is unwavering. It is the reason why the organization exists. The CER’s four interconnected Strategic Priorities reflect areas of cross-organizational focus to help us better deliver on our Mission and reach our Vision: Trust and Confidence; Reconciliation; Competitiveness; and Data and Digital Innovation. The following is an update on the Strategic Plan & Strategic Priorities Implementation PlansFootnote 9:

Trust and Confidence

The CER is committed to delivering a regulatory system that Canadians trust. The organization will earn that trust and the confidence of Canadians by being transparent, working collaboratively and being responsive to what it hears from stakeholders and Indigenous peoples. Also having the trust and confidence of its own staff is critical to an empowered workforce. The CER is committed to building a culture that is diverse and inclusive, where all staff feel valued and respected. In 2021–22, the CER undertook several initiatives in support of its Trust and Confidence Strategic Priority, including:

  • Improving how the CER communicates: The CER conducted a comprehensive and actionable review of its communications program and organizational practices. The CER developed a plan in response to the assessment and recommendations are being implemented with many of them already complete.
  • Fostering an engaged, inclusive, and empowered workforce: The CER developed and began implementing a Future of the Workforce Plan, aimed at creating a safe, flexible, supportive, and inclusive workplace during and after the pandemic. CER also developed a Diversity and Belonging Roadmap which outlines recommended actions for the organization. Recommendations stemming from the Roadmap have been explicitly incorporated into current strategic priority deliverables. To read more about these initiatives, see Internal Services under Results: what we achieved.
  • Enhancing the CER’s engagement with Canadians: According to Public Opinion Research conducted in early 2022, Canadians’ overall confidence in the CER was up slightly over previous years, particularly among those familiar with the CER’s work.

Reconciliation

The CER is committed to the ongoing process of ReconciliationFootnote 10 with Indigenous peoples and will continue to take meaningful actions in this 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 IAC is part of the CER’s governance structure and plays an important role in Reconciliation, in providing advice to the Board on how to transform the organization to advance Reconciliation, and to drive meaningful change in the CER’s requirements and expectations of regulated industry. In 2021–22, the CER undertook several initiatives in support of Reconciliation, including:

  • Working towards implementation of the UN Declaration within the CER’s mandate: The CER has begun to conduct its analysis of what implementation of the UN Declaration will mean for the organization, and what approaches may be taken towards implementation within the CER’s mandate. The CER’s work in relation to the UN Declaration is separate, but very much aligned with the efforts of the broader Government in this area, including through its work under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ActFootnote 11. This is a multiyear initiative for the CER. While at an early stage, the CER’s work to date has included support to the Board and IAC in their co-development of a Statement on what Reconciliation means to the CER and the principles and values that will guide the CER in its Reconciliation journey. In addition, the CER is contributing to the development of the Federal Indigenous Knowledge Policy Framework initiative (led by the Impact Assessment Agency)Footnote 12. To read more about the impacts of the IAC, please see Engagement under Results: what we achieved.
  • Evolving the CER’s approach to Crown consultation: The CER enhanced its ability to support Crown consultation activities beyond adjudicative processes. The CER has the responsibility of being the Crown Consultation Coordinator, undertaking consultation activities to support and complement consultation taking place within adjudicative processes. To read more, see Energy Adjudication under Results: what we achieved.
  • Delivering on commitments made to the Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committees (IAMCs): The CER continues to advance its work with the Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committee for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (IAMC-TMX) and Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committee for Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Program (IAMC-Line 3), including work on joint monitoring activities. For example, the CER worked with Indigenous Caucus IAMC members to develop a Community Profiles portal, which provides a mobile tool for Indigenous Monitors and CER Inspectors to access community information relevant to inspection areas, and to connect monitors with local resources to identify specific Indigenous community issues or interests. To read more, see Safety and Environment Oversight under Results: what we achieved.
  • Improving the Indigenous cultural competency of the organization: The CER is working on its Indigenous Recruitment, Retention and Advancement Strategy that will establish priorities and actions that cultivate an Indigenous inclusive workforce focused on attracting, retaining, and promoting Indigenous employees. The CER is also building an Indigenous Cultural Competency Framework and Change Management Strategy that will enable it to transform how it welcomes and works with Indigenous peoples.

Competitiveness

The CER Act clearly outlines the ambition for the CER’s regulatory system to enhance Canada’s global competitiveness. The CER delivered on that commitment by moving forward with improvements to the predictability, transparency, and efficiency of its regulatory processes. In 2021–22, the CER undertook several initiatives in support of Competitiveness, including:

  • Developing an Industry Engagement Structure: The CER recognized the need to create a permanent engagement structure with industry to support open and transparent dialogue, facilitate reporting on initiatives, and receive feedback. Initial consultation on the idea with regulated companies was positive, and work is underway to launch the first steps of the approach to develop the permanent engagement structure.
  • Exploring the CER’s role in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): The CER undertook a project to explore and understand its role within the ESG arena. The organization will continue to share ESG-related information through energy information publications during the upcoming fiscal year.
  • Contributing to Canada’s energy transition dialogue: The CER provides Canadians, Indigenous people, and decision-makers with relevant energy information to help inform Canada’s energy transition to a low-carbon economy. In the Energy Future 2021 report released in December 2021, the CER introduced six net-zero electricity scenarios as part of its long-term energy supply and demand outlook. To read more see Energy Information under Results: what we achieved.
  • Examining the CER’s role in hydrogen regulation: The CER continues to explore, prepare, and understand its regulatory role within new emerging energy commodities, such as hydrogen. The CER has engaged with all levels of government and energy regulators domestically and internationally, industry associations, industry, and other stakeholders to understand the rapidly evolving hydrogen market and provide appropriate advice to policymakers.
  • Clarifying regulatory requirements: Clarity regarding regulatory processes and evolving requirements is key to enhancing competitiveness. The organization clarified its regulatory requirements through improvement of and updates to the CER Filing ManualFootnote 13 for decommissioning and abandonment applications. Draft updates have been released for public comment, including sections related to supply and markets, confidentiality, and variance applications.

Data and Digital Innovation

The CER is creating a data and digital innovation culture and systems to effectively deliver its mandate and to allow for improved public access, use, and analysis of accurate data. This will enhance the CER’s energy information, in addition to helping with meaningful participation and informing decision-making creating more opportunities for digital engagement. It will also lead to a better understanding of who the CER is and what it does.

The CER supports its people to increase data skills enterprise-wide to accelerate data and digital innovation across the organization. In 2021–22, the CER undertook several initiatives in support of Data and Digital Innovation, including:

  • Delivering skills training and tools to increase data competencies and use across the CER: The CER implemented advanced data training programs to upskill staff in a wide range of data specializations. Additionally, in March 2022, the CER created a Data Community of Practice to foster enterprise-wide innovation and established a Skills Inventory.
  • Establishing and building the data foundation (data and tools) to enable analytics, decision making, and public participation. The CER continued mining and structuring regulatory documents to make CER data more searchable and usable for research, analysis, and decision making through the OneData project. The organization released several new products and tools to improve public accessibility of our adjudication processes, including a new Participation PortalFootnote 14 aimed at guiding participants through the Intervenor or Commenter processes. The CER also developed BERDIFootnote 15 (Biophysical, Economic, Regional Data & Information), a tool to provide broader internal access to data contained in historic Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessments.
  • Establishing and building the integrated data and information systems for the CER and external parties: The CER developed a regulatory filing solution for applicants renewing Import/Export Orders. This solution automates and streamlines routine administrative applications and rule-based analysis to achieve enterprise-wide efficiencies. The organization also created and launched an External Application DashboardFootnote 16 so hearing participants can easily access information about any hearing schedule and regulatory documents. It was launched for the NorthRiver Midstream NEBC Connector ProjectFootnote 17.

To learn more about the work being done to advance the CER’s Strategic Priorities, please see the CER Board of Director’s 2021–22 Annual ReportFootnote 18.

For more information on the CER’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Footnotes

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