My name is Timothy Gardiner, and I'm the acting director general of the petroleum resources branch at Natural Resources Canada.

I am pleased to have this opportunity today to introduce the contribution of Natural Resources Canada to the second act to implement certain provisions of the 2018 budget, specifically with regard to the proposal to amend the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

Some of these amendments also relate to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, and my colleagues from Environment and Climate Change Canada are here to answer any questions relating to that piece of legislation.

There are two components to these amendments. Clauses 176 to 178 and 181 make it easier to apply the carbon tax in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area in accordance with the joint management framework for offshore hydrocarbons. Clauses 179 and 180 extend the temporary measures on workplace health and safety in the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

The first set of amendments allow for the incorporation by reference of Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial carbon pricing regime in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and its application to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area. These amendments reflect approaches to offshore carbon pricing that have been agreed upon by the federal and provincial governments, including alignment with the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

The amendments will also empower the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board to act as the regulatory authority responsible for the provincial carbon tax system in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area.

The other set of amendments extend the expiration date of the transitional regulations under the Offshore Health and Safety Act, the OHSA. This act was passed in 2014 to implement a comprehensive set of occupational health and safety regimes under the accord acts.

The act allowed temporary regulations to come into effect in support of a workplace health and safety scheme in the areas covered by the accords, in anticipation of permanent regulations being developed.

The transitional regulations are set to expire at the end of 2019. This five-year time frame was originally deemed sufficient to develop permanent regulations, but additional time is now required, given the need to coordinate these regulations with other offshore regulations under development and to undertake additional consultations with the provinces, indigenous groups, and stakeholders.

These amendments are generally not seen as controversial. The oil and gas industry accepts that carbon pricing will be a cost of doing business in Canada going forward and understands that the OHSA regulations protect the safety of offshore workers and reduce the potential for regulatory uncertainty in the offshore.

Environmental and non-governmental organizations and indigenous groups are generally supportive of carbon pollution pricing as a tool to reduce emissions and address climate change. Nevertheless, some could take the opportunity to argue that these measures are not enough.

Thank you.

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