Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
Issue 6 - Evidence - November 1, 2011
OTTAWA, Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources met this day at 5:52 p.m. to study the current state and future of Canada's energy sector (including alternative energy).
Senator W. David Angus (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Good evening, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to all our audience on the CPAC network, on the World Wide Web and anyone visiting on our special website established under www.canadianenergyfuture.ca and www.avenirenergiecanadienne.ca.
Tonight we are continuing to examine the current state and future of Canada's energy sector, including alternative energy. Since the fall of 2009, the committee has been studying this important national subject. To date, the committee has heard from some 200 witnesses, 71 of which appeared before us during our trips last winter to Montreal, Quebec, and to the provinces in Atlantic Canada.
The study is now winding down in the sense that we will travel to the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia to complete our consultations with Canadians as we continue to engage in a dialogue about how lucky we are in Canada to have such wonderful energy, but how remiss we have been in not using it efficiently and having a national strategy to develop what we have every possibility of doing in this country — namely a cleaner, more efficient and sustainable energy system.
Our guests tonight have been back and forth with us. The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation kindly invited us to see and enjoy the wonderful exhibit that they have on energy technology that has evolved in recent weeks. It is key in terms of technology being one of the absolute essentials to getting to the clean energy super power that we all aspire to.
Our guests this evening, from the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, are these wonderful three people that you see, Ms. Amyot, Ms. Adamek and Mr. Proulx. I have some notes that I would like to share with you.
[Translation]
Denise Amyot is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, whose mandate is to promote science and technology across the country.
The corporation and its three museums — the Canada Agriculture Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum — tell the stories of Canadian ingenuity and achievement in science and technology, and demonstrate how these accomplishments have contributed to the building of our country.
[English]
Ms. Amyot was most recently the senior vice president of the leadership and talent management sector at the Canada Public Service Agency. In this position, she was responsible for leading and managing leadership development programs and developing policies for employees and executives throughout the federal Public Service of Canada.
[Translation]
Denise Amyot is joined by Fernand Proulx, Chief Operating Officer; and Anna Adamek, Curator, National Resources and Industrial Design.
[English]
Just so you know who you are talking to — I think you already do — I am Senator Angus, from Montreal, Quebec. I am the chair of this committee. You have seen in the last little while that I am pretty juiced up tonight with excitement. We will hear and see about these exhibits.
With me tonight is Senator Mitchell, the deputy chair, from Alberta; from the Library of Parliament, our useful colleagues, Sam Banks and Marc LeBlanc; my predecessor from Alberta, Senator Banks; from Manitoba, Senator Johnson; our clerk, Lynn Gordon, whom you know; from British Columbia, Senator Neufeld; from New Brunswick, Senator Wallace; and from Montreal, Quebec, Senator Massicotte.
Without further ado, Ms. Amyot, I believe you will present and then we will have many questions.
Denise Amyot, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good evening to all of you and to members of the standing committee. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you.
I will not introduce myself and my colleagues, as this has been done already.
On behalf of Mr. Gary Polonsky, chair of our board of trustees, and the members of our board of trustees, please allow me to express our appreciation for your invitation to appear before this committee. It is a great honour as this is the first time our museums corporation has appeared before a standing Senate committee. We want to commend the committee for its insightful and constructive discussion paper entitled Attention Canada! Preparing for our Energy Future.
As an institution dedicated to promoting science and technology in Canada, we strongly agree with and support your view that Canada, like other countries around the world, will need to harness innovation opportunities in order to move toward the sustainable extraction, production, transmission and uses of energy. We also commend your call for action on energy literacy that you have in section 4.9.
[Translation]
Energy issues are a topic of interest for all Canadians. Canada is endowed with multiple sources of energy. As a country, we produce more than we consume.
Yet, we have become one of the highest per capita users of energy in the world according to the Population Institute of Canada. Energy fuels a wide range of economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities.
In my presentation today, I will provide you with an overview of how we have come to be engaged in energy literacy and what we have accomplished. I will also outline some of our plans, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
[English]
Before I proceed, allow me to provide you with a brief overview of our organization because it is not always known by everyone. The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation was established 21 years ago and governs three museums: the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Agriculture Museum. I often say to people it goes from Holstein to Einstein.
Our mission is to help all Canadians experience the past, explore the present and imagine the future by engaging them in the rich cultural connections between science, technology and society.
With some 240 employees and an annual operating budget of about $30 million, we are a medium-sized Crown corporation reporting to Parliament to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. We welcome about 700,000 visitors annually in our museums and reach out through off-site and online programs to about 9 million Canadians.
[Translation]
My objective this evening is to introduce you to our Let's Talk Energy initiative and the three major energy exhibitions that we opened this summer in our three museums.
First, let me explain how we became engaged in energy literacy. In the fall of 2009, we began discussions with a wide range of stakeholders nationwide on what the role of national museums in the 21st century should be. Energy came up very often as an area requiring significant public education.
It should be noted that other areas highlighted included the need for a science culture in Canada, the need to attract girls to science and engineering, and the need to help elementary teachers with science education.
[English]
In these discussions, we were also challenged as a national institution to find ways to reach out to Canadians beyond our museums' walls in the national capital. With Canada's rich heritage of science and technology accomplishments related to energy, which is well represented in our collection of artifacts, we concluded that all the ingredients were present to launch a new initiative that would go beyond our traditional role as museums. We decided to invite Canada's museums and science centres across the country, as well as energy sector organizations, to collaborate with us to set up a pan- Canadian six-year energy literacy program.
I should add, senators, that what we have embarked on has never been done in the world.
In September of 2010, Minister Goodyear and Minister Paradis joined us at the World Energy Congress in Montreal to launch an initiative that we call Let's Talk Energy: Engaging Ideas for Canada's Future.
Strong from our long experience in engaging Canadians of all ages on complex science issues, we are ideally suited to help our country elevate the level of public knowledge and awareness needed to support informed public choices. This initiative also represents for us an opportunity to expand our partnerships, leverage our resources through sponsorships and reach out to more Canadians. As you know, the need for energy literacy has also been identified as a priority in many other forums.
The Chair: Including the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.
Ms. Amyot: As I was saying to Senator Neufeld earlier, whenever you go to an energy conference, the same people often are there, but each time they are talking about the need for energy literacy.
From the beginning, we set up a national advisory committee to ensure we would have solid representation from all energy sectors, from academic institutions, the NGO community and different levels of government from across the country. The advisory committee helped us frame the way the Let's Talk Energy initiative should be structured to best address such a complex topic and reach out to the broadest number of Canadians. The private sponsorships and the donations we obtained have allowed us to launch this initiative with a broader scope, which goes beyond our traditional museum mandate and funding. The long-term sustainability of this initiative will also depend, of course, on our capacity to forge even more public and private partnerships and sponsorships.
Second, I would like to talk about what we have accomplished in the short time since we announced the Let's Talk Energy initiative last September 2010. The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation began developing the pan-Canadian energy literacy initiative from what we knew best: the development of attractive and engaging science exhibitions. We did not develop one exhibition in one of our museums; we decided to develop three exhibitions in each of our three museums. These exhibitions are our cornerstone contribution to the Let's Talk Energy initiative. Together, they represent 1,000 square metres of exhibition floor space devoted to the topic of energy, making it the largest ever combined exhibition on energy in the country.
[Translation]
"Green Skies Ahead" at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum opened last June. The exhibition showcases current and futuristic technologies that allow the aviation industry to boost its economic performance and decrease its environmental impact. It explores new materials, aircraft design, fuels and engines, as well as air traffic management.
An agreement is in place with the Trudeau international airport to host a condensed version of this exhibition next year, and we are looking forward to engaging in discussions with other airports nationwide.
The Canada Agriculture Museum is a special place in Ottawa. It attracts significant numbers of urbanites and their preschool-aged children and offers an opportunity to showcase how energy matters in a rural setting.
A few weeks ago, Pierre Lemieux, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, officially opened "Energy Park: Nature at Work." That exhibition is a unique outdoor installation that includes the growing of plants, such as corn and canola, that are used to make biofuels. It also offers fun and educational interactive activities that help adults and children understand the principles of wind and solar power.
Visitors can also see operational solar panels powering energy-efficient ventilation fans in the animal barns and gain an appreciation of the surprisingly large amount of energy that goes into bringing food to Canadian dinner tables.
[English]
On September 27, the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, officially opened "Energy: Power to Choose" at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. This exhibition, the largest of its kind in the country, explores the economic, environmental and social benefits and challenges faced by industry in harnessing energy from all primary sources available in Canada.
The exhibition also invites visitors to think about their own energy consumption and the decisions they make using or saving energy. The exhibition features a human-sized hamster wheel in which visitors can generate energy to spark a Tesla coil, two electric eels that show the biological production of energy and a live Twitter wall for soliciting comments from visitors, as well as individual pledges to promote the reduction of personal consumption and energy use.
In addition to these exhibitions, we have launched a number of activities conducive to becoming the base of a vibrant pan-Canadian energy literacy program.
Number one, we have set up a coast-to-coast Museum Associate Partners Program, the first of its kind, with science centres and museums that are planning to host energy-related activities or exhibitions. As of today, I am proud to mention that 18 institutions from across the country have signed on to the program. They are identified in our progress report. In fact, in our progress report, you will see that we have mentioned 17 institutions. That is because one came along this week, and we wanted to make sure that we provided you the right information.
We are also looking at establishing a similar network with research centres, colleges, universities and companies, which will be called the Research Associate Partners Program, companies that are involved in finding innovative solutions to Canada's energy challenges or that have venues that welcome or can welcome visitors. Our goal is to provide Canadians with the largest possible spectrum of learning opportunities and encourage their cross promotion.
Number two, 12 information kiosks designed to present an overview of Canada's energy sector are being placed in strategic public locations across the country, such as the venues of our network collaborators from Vancouver to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. These kiosks incorporate content from partners such as Pollution Probe, which came to speak to this committee not long ago; the SEEDS Foundation; the Centre for Energy; and various associations and companies in the energy field. You can view one of the kiosks at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Number three, we supported the development of a travelling exhibition called "Watt's Up?" which focuses on energy and electricity and which was produced by THEMUSEUM in Waterloo in collaboration with the MusØe de la nature et des sciences de Sherbrooke and the Saskatchewan Science Centre. It is booked extensively for the next two years at locations across the country. The exhibition has already been presented in Waterloo, Sherbrooke and Sept- Îles, and it will be shown in London, Ontario, from April to July 2012.
Plans are afoot, pending funding, to create two more energy-themed travelling exhibitions, potentially one on energy efficiency and one strictly on new technologies.
[Translation]
Number four, we have produced bilingual travelling educational suitcases for students and teachers at both the elementary and high school levels. Those suitcases include activity plans and materials to carry out hands-on classroom lessons on energy subjects. Our website, www.energy.technomuses.ca also offers downloadable educational programs and videos.
Last summer, a pilot institute for elementary teachers was held to help them hone their science teaching skills and integrate energy issues into their curriculum programs. The three-day intensive workshop attracted participants from across the country, including Newfoundland and Yukon.
Number five, we are also significantly invested in Web 2.0. The "Energy: Power to Choose" exhibition at the Canada Science and Technology Museum features a live Twitter wall — possibly a first in a Canadian museum — to collect live impressions from visitors and to educate them on energy matters.
Gaming is also a growing means to reach Canadians. We are working with Rocket Owl, a local producer of online social games such as GreenSpaces, which is available on Facebook, to introduce energy exhibition content into their games, and to post energy videos on their YouTube channels.
Number six, a national award on energy literacy is also being established in partnership with the Canadian Association of Science Centres. The award will be presented for the first time next April at the association's annual conference, which will be held here in Ottawa.
[English]
Finally, I would like to outline some of our plans and the challenges that lie ahead. New initiatives are being developed with Let's Talk Energy partners. For example, with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, we are committed to producing a special energy issue of Canadian Geographic magazine and to launching a nation-wide photo contest. Other initiatives are being pursued with other organizations, such as the Canadian Automobile Association, One Change Foundation and the Canadian 4-H Council, to name a few.
In our view, this should only be the beginning of a substantial pan-Canadian energy literacy program. There should be more for schools and teachers, more distance learning and webcast opportunities, more national symposiums and local town hall discussions, more travelling exhibitions, more virtual and online exhibitions, more involvement of the arts and, basically, more citizen engagement and more use of social media on energy matters.
In short, we cannot agree more with your conclusion of section 4.9 for the need to communicate "energy and related environmental information to Canadians," using proven citizen outreach techniques to shore up more informed public support for communicating energy and related environmental information to Canadians.
[Translation]
We hope that today we have shown how well positioned our museums and our partners are to lead a national energy literacy campaign in Canada.
As national museums, we benefit from the public's trust in our education programs and the quality of our content. We can mobilize a large community of stakeholders, such as museums and science centres, as we mentioned in our presentation, and reach million of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
We are committed to this national energy literacy initiative and will continue with the support of our partners and sponsors.
[English]
Honourable senators, I would like to extend an invitation to your committee to hold a special session at the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation or at one of our two other museums so that you can see for yourself the expertise that we use to bring the challenges of communicating complex scientific and technological issues to Canadians of all ages right across the country. We would be honoured to have you.
In the kit we have provided, in case you cannot wait until the group comes, you will find a family pass for two adults and three kids for each of our museums.
The Chair: Fantastic.
[Translation]
The Chair: Ms. Amyot, I want to begin by congratulating you on this wonderful presentation. We are on the same wavelength as you. It is obvious that our respective goals are identical. There is a lot of work to do.
[English]
I can see that the senators around the table are all ready to "Let's Talk Energy." This is what we are trying to get Canadians to do. I am thrilled with the way you have outlined it for us.
I want to remind all colleagues that we were invited on a previous occasion to go the opening of the exhibition on "Let's Talk Energy". It was a total conflict with us, but as the clerk has informed the steering committee that it is not a complicated thing to organize. We get a bus and we come across. We will liaise with you.
[Translation]
We discuss energy matters almost twice a week, at least, and perhaps the time has come now for us to visit you to see for ourselves, instead of just talking about it. We would love to do that, and we thank you very much for the invitation.
The first person to discuss energy will be my colleague, the deputy chair, Senator Mitchell.
Senator Mitchell: Ms. Amyot, thank you very much for your presentation. It was very interesting. One of the aspects our study covers is the fact that energy literacy is among the key issues for Canadians. Thank you very much.
[English]
I am very interested in this. I have often said that we do not need any more technologies to reduce greenhouse gases; we need a new technology to convince people that we have to reduce greenhouse gases. This sounds like just the thing.
Do you talk about climate change as part of this project and initiative? If so, do you ever question it or are you convinced by the science that it is actually happening?
Ms. Amyot: First, this is an exhibition on energy, so it represents all the different sources of energy. They are all presented in the same way, meaning how they are harnessed. We also present the benefits and the challenges as well. We have this globe and you will see it. In fact, you have a picture of the globe in the kit that we have given to you.
The Chair: In the progress report?
Ms. Amyot: Yes, exactly. On that globe, you have the possibility to see what the state of climate change is around the world. It gives you information with respect to how it is and allows you to do this. There are other aspects that we have included also in the exhibition.
I will ask Ms. Adamek to talk about it.
Anna Adamek, Curator, Natural Resources and Industrial Design, Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation: We started with the premise that the climate is changing. We are not going into why it is changing because that is an exhibit on its own.
We appeal to our visitors on a visual level. As you enter the exhibition, you see a huge cube, 3 by 3 by 3 metres. That cube represents emissions of CO2 per capita per day for each Canadian. Visitors are surprised. They look at this huge cube and say, "Is this how much I emit? How is that possible?" It is an excellent way to start the exploration of this exhibition.
Ms. Amyot: Around this cube, the team took a day in the life of a person from the time they wake up with the alarm clock — how the alarm clock was produced and how much energy it took to produce the alarm clock. After the person goes in the bathroom and has a shower, it shows how much energy is used for this. You have this huge cube that Ms. Adamek mentioned, and around it you have all the different elements.
This did not exist, so the team created this thing to be able to illustrate it. People, whether they are children or adults, realize, "Oh, if I choose to eat this in the morning instead of this, it also has an impact from an energy perspective." It is very powerful.
This morning, I was there with the parliamentary secretary, Dr. Leitch. She was at the museum and when she saw this, she was quite impressed by the size of the cube.
The Chair: Was that Kellie Leitch?
Ms. Amyot: Yes, exactly. It is impressive when you look at it. Then immediately, the first thing it does to you is you have remorse because you think, "Oh my God, I produce that much, so I should do something about it." That is what is behind this energy exhibition. We want people to realize that they are part of the solution with respect to the use of energy.
In the energy exhibits, we have three goals basically. The first goal, which we call Energy 101, is to dispel myths around energy. The second goal is to showcase new technology because Canadians have been very good at innovating in the field of energy. The third one is to hopefully change the behaviour of citizens. If we do not change their behaviour — because, as you know, it is hard to change behaviour — people at least would realize the impact that they have with respect to energy.
Around the globe that you saw in the picture are three screens that have different quizzes. Over 8,000 people took the time to fill out those quizzes since mid-July when the exhibition opened. It is quite interesting to see that they took the time to fill those out. It also makes people think: What is my intention with respect to whether to buy a new type of thermostat, for example? Will I change the lights in my house to ensure that I use less energy?
[Translation]
They stop and think a little bit before answering.
[English]
They say, "No, I do not intend to, but maybe I should." You can see all these gymnastics that are happening in their head.
[Translation]
The Chair: The problem, Ms. Amyot, is that you are not enthusiastic —
[English]
Ms. Amyot: It is a long answer, sorry.
Senator Mitchell: No, that is great.
One of the passages in your presentation referred to something that is thoughtful and powerful with respect to energy literacy. You said that there should be more for schools and teachers, more distance learning and webcasts, more travelling exhibitions, et cetera. All kinds of groups have this as a mandate or part of a mandate, quite apart from the public and other school systems. Do you have any thoughts about how that might be structured? I know many people do not want more government, but should there be some kind of central group to coordinate that? Could that be done by a private group or a government group, or does it need to be done at all?
Ms. Amyot: You are raising something very important. Let me share with you what we have been doing in that respect.
In the last year we have discovered that a lot is being done but often it is done on one specific source of energy or it appears to be done by some people and others wonder if they should trust that source.
As we have been gathering all that information in the materials that we have, instead of reinventing the wheel, we are really trying to use what has been developed. We examine it first and we reuse what has been developed. This summer, we had the teacher institute that we did as a pilot, and a full afternoon was devoted to looking at what exists in the field of energy around the country. Teachers said, "Okay, I did not know this exists; where can I get it?"
Definitely, you would not need to create a structure but have a list or a compendium of all those different sources. In fact, we have started to do that, but this is certainly something that would be worthwhile pursuing and doing at large, as well as asking all the provinces what they are doing. If not, a lot of duplication may happen, instead of improving what already exists.
The Chair: The idea about asking the provinces is interesting. When we started to embark on this study over two years ago, we sent to every deputy minister and minister of energy in the provinces or the equivalent a big template of questions, but I do not think we included the education and what you are doing. We may have to go back one final time.
You indicated that Minister Goodyear and Minister Paradis were at the world energy conference, at which, by the way, Senator Massicotte and Senator McCoy were present, and they gave us varying reports. It seems it was a landmark occasion; a lot of new initiatives were launched.
You said that you have raised money from the private sector to supplement your regular museum budget, yet the ministers of science and technology and energy, or natural resources, launched this Let's Talk Energy program in Montreal. Did they not give you extra funding?
Ms. Amyot: We asked them to come for who they were. We did receive some funding from Natural Resources Canada.
The Chair: That was in addition to your museum.
Ms. Amyot: Yes, absolutely we did. With initiatives like this, it goes beyond what a museum would normally do. Often a museum would strictly do one exhibition and that is it, but we wanted to listen to what we had heard when we did the cross-Canada consultation. We felt energy was such an important issue that we needed to go larger than what we normally do as museums. It was also because we wanted to demystify what museums are all about. We were able to gather, beyond our funding, $2.2 million from sponsors and donors, and we were very pleased with that. We are continuing to ask for support from different sources. We are still waiting for some answers right now. I have to say that, initially, when we approached people, they were wondering, "Wow, you want to do all that?" Now that we have done the progress report and we have done all this, they realize we are serious about doing something on energy.
We got very good support, and we are pleased about that.
The Chair: I think you should send one of these packages with the tickets to the Honourable James Flaherty. The pre-budget consultations are starting any day, and you can be sure we will support you.
Senator Banks: I want to say that my children and grandchildren have all been at a couple of your museums, and we have enjoyed the interactive parts of them in particular. I want to thank you for these tickets. They will be well used.
This question is mundane and adds to what the chair has asked you. You said in your remarks that you have an operating budget of $30 million, but the parliamentary appropriation for 2010-11 was $35.3 million. In that year you earned revenue, or revenue generated from other sources, of $4.5 million. That comes to $40 million. Where does the $10 million go that is outside of what you referred to as your "operating budget?"
Ms. Amyot: We have also received money for our facilities; it was one time.
Senator Banks: Fixing the roof?
Ms. Amyot: Kind of, but it was more than that. I will ask Mr. Proulx to give you details about that.
Fernand Proulx, Chief Operating Officer, Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation: The 2008 budget gave us funding to redress infrastructure shortfalls that we had for the recapitalization of some of our buildings, for some of the facilities' structure, so that was added to our Main Estimates. Our base vote is $26.5 million, and we supplement our revenues by about $5 million a year, giving us $30 million on average. However, you are right that the Main Estimates would show $35 million, with the supplementary facilities.
Senator Banks: That would be one time and then you would revert to the lower amount in the budget.
Mr. Proulx: We will be reverting to our $26.5 million in two years.
Senator Banks: The happiest words I saw in your remarks, chair, were about the necessity to change the behaviour of citizens, all of us, with respect to how we use energy because we are profligate in our use of energy. The chair will remember that this committee issued a report a few years ago that commented on the necessity of education —literacy — is make people understanding that. That same report said that education and literacy by themselves did not work in all of the jurisdictions that we examined in the world where success at some level has been attained in changing people's habits with respect to the use of energy in all of its forms. Cajoling, advertising or marketing by themselves did not work. In each of those instances, a hammer had to be used by way of requirements in the regulatory sense, or incentives, disincentives or some kind of coercion — perhaps that is too strong a word — in addition to all these things. Do you have a view about that with respect to your objective of changing the way people use energy?
Ms. Amyot: Our mandate is about informing citizens. It is about educating them in different ways, so we are not there to cover policy matters.
Senator Banks: I understand that, but do you have an opinion in that regard?
Ms. Amyot: I could give you my opinion if we have coffee after; I would be pleased to do that.
That said, I would like to share with the committee what has, in fact, been very successful in Canada, and it is the blue box. There was no coercion, and it has been very successful. In the classrooms, at the elementary level, they started to help kids to understand. The kids then talked to their parents and said, "Look, you should not do that, dad; you should not do that, mom." Nowadays, if people do not use the blue box, they feel remorse.
Senator Banks: They are scolded by their children.
Ms. Amyot: Yes and the boxes are fuller. We had to buy an extra box because the box we have is not sufficient.
Senator Banks: That is a good example.
Senator Dickson: Thank you for an excellent presentation. It was fantastic, one of the best presentations we have had because you have demonstrated action. A lot of people appear before us saying they are going to do something. I would like to congratulate you personally for the detail, thought and creativity that went into your presentation, and I know all the members of the committee as well want to congratulate you personally.
I scanned your material. You underlined the importance of cooperation and collaboration with municipal and provincial governments. What is your reaction to the level of cooperation you are receiving in Nova Scotia from the provincial government, first, and then the municipalities?
Ms. Amyot: Thank you very much for your nice comments. I will certainly convey that to the rest of the team. I think they will appreciate that very much.
I will not talk specifically about Nova Scotia, but I will talk about what we have done so far. We wrote to all ministers responsible for energy in each of the provinces and territories about six months ago. We will write to them again to share with them the progress report because we now have something to show.
In my presentation, I do not know if you remember, but I talked about something that I called the Research Associate Program. It is similar to the Museum Associate Partners Program, and we are just starting with it, wherein we will be approaching colleges, universities, research centres and municipalities or provinces that have done something very unique with energy that should be shared with the rest of the country or the rest of the world. I have already talked, for example, to the City of Vancouver, which is very proactive with respect to its approach to energy. They said they wanted to be one of our partners.
We are approaching different organizations, but we are just starting to approach them. We started first with those that we knew best, which are the museums and the science centres. We wanted to solidly establish them first, but now we are ready to begin approaching others.
If you have names to provide me from Nova Scotia, I would be very pleased to have those contacts. I am pleased to report that the Discovery Centre in Halifax is in fact one of our museum associate partners, and if I recall correctly, they will also be exhibiting one of the kiosks we have created.
Senator Dickson: Coming back to the province of Nova Scotia, you do not have to go down that road; you can answer the same way as you did Senator Banks. I would appreciate it if you could give me an indication as to whether they answered the correspondence. Where did the province stand on this? Did they spend a lot of money? They always say talk is cheap but action is better.
Ms. Amyot: The provinces are very interested in knowing more. They told us to come back and tell them more about our initiative because they are very curious about such initiatives. What we hope now is that with the progress report we will be able to demonstrate what has been done and provide ideas of what else could be done, or they can suggest to us other areas we could look at.
Senator Dickson: It will be very hard for them to beat this.
The second page of your progress report says "more projects on the workbench." If you were to rank those, which would be number one?
Ms. Amyot: Number one to accomplish?
Senator Dickson: Yes.
Ms. Amyot: That is a tough one because I have many number ones. I would say the most important to me would be to complete the virtual exhibition. The reason for that is we have experience in doing virtual exhibitions. We have done two so far, and my dream is doing virtual exhibitions for our three exhibitions but also with what some of our partners are doing so that someone from their living room could examine what is happening across the country with respect to energy and see it with different eyes.
If you were to ask me what my dream project would be, that would certainly be one of them because it is one way to not have walls between the different partners that are accomplishing something on energy. For example, someone could visit a wind farm with the click of a finger or someone could see what we mean by tidal turbines. How does that thing work? Or someone could see how oil extraction works or how natural gas is extracted.
Senator Dickson: In the Nova Scotia context, as well in other provinces, I noticed there is a monopoly insofar as electricity is concerned. Ontario Hydro was mentioned. Have you had in-depth correspondence or discussions with Emera or Nova Scotia Power?
Ms. Amyot: I have not met personally with people from Nova Scotia yet. I have met with people from P.E.I. who are in the hydro business, but I would certainly welcome meeting them in Nova Scotia as well. We have had conversations with a number of people, such as Manitoba Hydro or Hydro Ottawa. In our research, I spoke with a very large number of universities as well as utilities.
Ms. Adamek: I talked with Nova Scotia Power in my research. We also worked with the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. They were supportive and provided us with lots of information.
Senator Dickson: Was Nova Scotia Power supportive?
Ms. Adamek: They provided us with information and photographs for our exhibition.
Senator Dickson: Naturally, it would not be in their interests to sell less energy, so I would not expect them to be knocking at your door. The power rates are going up in Nova Scotia, and I think your material would be fantastic. I would suggest putting an exhibit up in the Stanfield International Airport in Halifax ASAP.
Senator Sibbeston: I noticed that your reach is as far north as Edmonton. I was going to ask about your activity in the Northwest Territories, whether you have any at all. I noticed that one of your partners is Science North & Dynamic Earth, which is located in Sudbury. I am curious about that.
Ms. Amyot: That is a very good question. I used to live in the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, so I am very sensitive to the importance of the territories.
We are trying to identify locations where we could put the travelling exhibitions up. In the Yukon, we have talked to two organizations, Yukon Transportation and the MacBride Museum in Whitehorse. In Yellowknife, we hope to have something with the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre. Where we are having difficulty right now is with respect to Iqaluit in Nunavut because it is very difficult to find locations where we could put up some of our materials. If you have any ideas for us, we have been struggling with that.
Senator Sibbeston: Initially, when the missionaries went north and talked about Christianity, they talked about heaven and hell. They said hell was a real hot place, and the Northern people thought, "That is not so bad an idea." I think there is still that mythology that hell is not such a bad place; it is warm. Maybe through your work you can do something about that and talk about energy instead.
Ms. Amyot: We only talk about energy, not religion.
The Chair: It is a hell of a subject.
Senator Wallace: That was a wonderful presentation and I can assure you that your personal enthusiasm is contagious. Your passion certainly comes through.
I have a couple of questions, just to understand how you develop the exhibits that you do, both the travelling ones and those located in buildings. Where do you turn to get the technological information that is needed to assemble those? When I ask that, I am aware of the fact that you have partnerships with the private sector. How do you do that, because you obviously want your exhibits to be top quality?
Ms. Amyot: I will first answer and then ask Ms. Adamek to add something.
The first thing I want to repeat is we have created this national advisory committee. We have about 27 people on this advisory committee that represents literally all sectors of energy, whether renewable or non-renewable. It also represents the country, NGOs, academia and different levels of government and the private sector.
With respect to energy, for example, just for new technology, we have received objects, drawings, photography or artifacts from over 95 organizations. I will ask Ms. Adamek to tell you what her process is when she develops exhibitions and the different steps she takes.
Ms. Adamek: We follow a product development process that is well established within the museums. There are identified steps. We start with research. We need to already have a body of research at the museum to start on endeavours such as this one. As a museum, we produce new knowledge but we also are very inclusive. We hire external researchers, we work with academia and all kinds of organizations across the country and internationally.
Once we know that we have enough content to start identifying messages, we form an exhibition team. We make sure that we have curatorial representation on the exhibition team, but we also have interpretive planners who know how to translate this information to the public. The exhibition team is responsible for coming up with messages, a plan and the selection of new technologies, et cetera.
Once we know what we want to present to the public, we have a review process. This is an internal review and external peer review for all the information that goes on the floor. Once the information is reviewed, we have an approval process. All the text needs to be read and approved before it is produced.
Senator Wallace: When you speak about increasing the relationship you have with universities and looking to them for increased partnerships, that was going through my mind. When I look at the work you are doing, that focus on science and technology is exactly what the universities are into. You are into educating the public and they are into educating students; and it seems that would be a natural relationship, where certain universities could even create exhibits for you. That is great; the students and the universities get to be part of that, they learn and there are great benefits from that.
Along the same line, it is not so much a question but I am enthused about this part of it. There is an organization called the Royal Society of Canada. I am not sure if you are aware of them.
Ms. Amyot: Yes, absolutely.
Senator Wallace: I am quite familiar with them — 45 of our universities across the country are represented in this organization and there is a fellowship. They do wonderful work in science and technology and other areas. It would seem to me if you do not have a close relationship with them now, it would be something to look at seriously.
As you do, they partner with the private sector and do wonderful work. Rod MacDonald, who is the dean of law at McGill, is the current president. I think there could be a mutually beneficial relationship from that.
Ms. Amyot: That is a good point. We have relationships with a number of them, but maybe it would be worthwhile to share with all of them what we have been doing.
Senator Wallace: Collectively, not just the individual network.
Ms. Amyot: It is a very good idea.
Senator Wallace: They also bring the private sector to the table.
Ms. Amyot: There are 18 universities that have been involved in one form or the other in this initiative. We are very pleased with that and with the Research Associate Partners Program. We certainly hope that a number of them that have buildings that are built very ecologically, meeting LEED platinum and more and also that are doing research, would be part of this as well.
Senator Neufeld: It is great to see your passion. When you talked earlier about when you walk into one of the museums and there is a cube that demonstrates how much did you say energy?
Ms. Amyot: How much CO2 each of us produces.
Senator Neufeld: How did you arrive at that number?
Ms. Adamek: We did calculations. We used UN data and divided it by the number of people and the number of days.
Senator Neufeld: What would that cube look like if we were to subtract all of the energy we use to produce energy to sell to others? We demonstrate this is how much you put into the atmosphere in Canada in energy, and we are energy hogs.
I always have a little trouble with that because we are producing a huge amount of energy for others that are not in our country, whether it is through mining for coal, oil and gas, electricity or through all kinds of things. Are we giving a false sense to the public that they are really energy hogs when maybe they are not so bad if we actually demonstrated what we provided ourselves, which we cannot do because our economy would be in the tank?
There is some kind of a demonstration that maybe you could think about doing to say this is how important it is to your quality of life; even though this bubble is this big, you only consume this much personally. If we did not have that big bubble, where would we be? Where would your health care be, where would your education be, where would your universities and museums be? That is just a bit of a thought, but it was a great presentation, thank you.
Ms. Amyot: We should look at that definitely, knowing also that transport is part of the energy that we take because our distances are very different from other countries in the world.
Senator Neufeld: You could place Germany in a little part of the area where I come from in north-eastern British Columbia — in size, not in people.
The Chair: Thank you, senator, that was a very interesting point.
Ms. Amyot, and your colleagues, on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank you most sincerely for a tremendous contribution to our study. I am sure that each in our way, we want to give you our formal acceptance that we will be coming and taking you up on your invitation. We will work on the logistics, hopefully sooner rather than later.
If senators can wait for two minutes, I will give you some pretty good news.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Amyot: I have to tell you that what we are doing is really a team effort. My entire team at the corporation deserve all your kudos. Thank you. I will be pleased to share that with them.
The Chair: Very well.
(The committee adjourned.)