Canada Energy Regulator 2024–25 Departmental Results Report

Results achieved

• Compliance Verification Activities

  The CER’s aim is zero incidents, meaning there is no harm to people, property or the environment resulting from the energy infrastructure it regulates. The CER uses a risk-based approach in planning and conducting Compliance Verification Activities (CVAs). CVAs are a check at one point in time that a company is meeting requirements in acts, regulations, and conditions of a project’s approval, certificate, order, or permit. When the activities of regulated companies have the potential to pose greater harm to people or the environment, the CER increases oversight through engagement, inspections, investigations, audits, and enforcement.

  In 2024-25, the CER conducted 249 CVAs, including:

  • 106 inspections
  • 22 emergency response exercises
  • six management system audits
  • 111 compliance meetings
  • four manual reviews

  In addition to CVAs, the CER provides oversight in other ways, such as:

  • Analyses of the root causes of incidents and responses to emergencies when they happen.
  • Examination of conditions of authorizations (e.g., orders and certificates).
  • Reviews of Operations and Maintenance notifications.
  • Reviews of contaminated sites documentation.
• Indigenous Monitoring

  The CER’s Indigenous monitoring program strengthens safety and environmental oversight to more holistically prevent harm, help protect Indigenous rights and interests and build relationships with Indigenous communities. The CER completed a total of 38 CVAs with Indigenous Monitors in 2024-25. There were 32 CVAs completed on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, one on Enbridge Line 3, and five on the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. system. Inspection Officers and Indigenous Monitors completed 30 field inspections and five meetings on Environmental Protection, Safety, and Socio-Economic disciplines. Indigenous Monitors also participated in three emergency response exercises.

• Remediation Oversight

  When contamination that could harm the environment or human health is identified, the CER ensures that the right steps are taken for its remediation. Remediation oversight activities in 2024-25 included the oversight of 478 active contaminated sites under CER jurisdiction. Staff conducted 12 CVAs, reviewed 460 contaminated sites Annual Updates, completed reviews of 10 Remedial Action Plans and Risk Management Plans, and closed 25 contaminated site files.

  Improvements to the CER’s Remediation Process in 2024-25 included enhancing the CER’s Online Event Reporting System to improve contaminated site data and the risk-based approach to oversight.

• Safety and Information Advisories

  The CER works to improve safety outcomes by sharing important information with industry about identified safety or environmental concerns with the goal of preventing similar incidents from occurring. Safety Advisories are issued periodically to highlight specific CER requirements and emphasize the CER’s expectation that regulated companies take appropriate actions to mitigate any potential impacts to people or the environment. Information advisories are issued to share learnings from CER’s compliance oversight.

  In 2024-25, the CER issued one Safety Advisories regarding nonconforming components in Pipelines and Materials Quality Assurance. In addition, the CER issued one Information Advisory, which shared common findings from 2024-25 management system audits.

• Security

  The CER’s Security team conducted 17 CVAs in 2024-25, five of which focused on cyber security. Cyber security CVAs have continued to focus on security measures that regulated companies have implemented on operational technology. The CER continued to work on maturing its cyber and physical security CVA processes through formalized cyber security training for our staff and collaborating with regulatory and security agencies in Canada and the United States.

• Emergency Management

  The CER expects the companies it regulates to do everything they can to keep their regulated infrastructure safe, which includes being ready in case of an emergency. In an emergency, the CER makes sure that companies respond to protect people, property, and the environment. In 2024-25, the Emergency Management Program conducted 45 CVAs, which included 26 exercise evaluations, seven inspections, three compliance meetings, six emergency procedures manual reviews, and supported three audits. In June 2024, the CER issued Industry Best Practices for Involvement of Indigenous Nations and Communities in Emergency Management. These best practices advance Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and provide a further opportunity for the CER, regulated companies, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to foster stronger relationships through emergency management.

  Through its incident line, and supported by its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), the CER maintains 24-hour capacity to respond to emergencies or monitor activities that could evolve and require deployment of CER staff. In April 2024, the EOC was activated and a field response team was deployed to an incident on the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. Grand Prairie Mainline. During the year, the EOC was also activated as a precaution to monitor line fill activities following the completion of construction of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and certain flooding and wildfires with potential to impact regulated infrastructure.

• Safety Culture

  The CER is working to improve safety culture (SC) across the pipeline industry. In 2024-25, the CER continued to carry out its current three-year SC strategy and workplan, focusing on two goals:

  • System-wide influence - The CER will take a system-wide approach to influencing a positive SC across industry that supports effective management of threats to people and the environment.
  • Company performance - The CER will enhance company understanding and detection of underlying human and organizational factors (HOF) to support improved risk management and SC maturity.

  CER staff continue to build their skills in this area by taking part in workshops and community sessions on SC and HOF. The CER also improved its industry-focused Learning Portal by adding interactive e-learning modules on SC and supported learning across the industry through its annual technical workshop with regulated companies.

• Regulatory Framework

  The CER is dedicated to having a Regulatory Framework that is robust, clear, transparent, coherent and consistent. To achieve this goal, the CER works with many different stakeholders to improve regulatory tools¬¬ – ensuring regulations that are in force remain appropriate and that regulatory documents, policies and guidance achieve their intended purpose.

  Improvements in 2024-25 included publishing the CER’s 2024 Revised Event Reporting Guidelines, publishing draft regulations related to the Export and Import Regulatory Framework, and advancing work on Predictable and Efficient Processing and Assessment of Negligible Risk and Low-Risk Projects (renamed this year to the Rapid Review Process). The CER also started its review of the Rules of Practice and Procedure through engagement activities.

  Information about the CER’s annual planned initiatives to improve the Regulatory Framework can be found on the CER’s website under Regulatory Framework Plan.

• Onshore Pipeline Regulations (OPR) Review

  The OPR are the main regulations the CER uses to oversee pipelines in Canada. The CER is undertaking a comprehensive review of the OPR, along with its Filing Manual. Both the OPR and Filing Manual review are deliverables under the Competitiveness and Regulatory Excellence Strategic Priority in the CER’s Strategic Plan. Phase 2 of the OPR review began in June 2024 with the release of 13 technical topic papers. A total of $2.6 million was provided through grants and contributions to 46 Indigenous-led organizations to hold engagement sessions for the project. Engagement activities for Phase 2 were designed to gather feedback on new requirements and commitments introduced through the UN Declaration Act and UN Declaration Act APM SP34 respectively.

  From June 2024 to March 2025, the CER led workshops and information sessions with industry and heritage resource protection experts. The engagement period closed 31 March 2025. Submissions from Indigenous-led organizations, industry, and interested stakeholders will inform potential improvements to the OPR, the Filing Manual and other related guidance and internal processes. Feedback submitted will be posted publicly on the CER’s website in 2025-26.

• Review and Clarification of Compliance Framework

  In 2024-25, the CER initiated a three-year project to review and clarify the tools and interventions used by the CER to promote, verify, and enforce compliance with regulatory requirements. This will lead to an updated internal compliance and enforcement framework and policy. The framework review is a deliverable under the Competitiveness and Regulatory Excellence Strategic Priority in the CER’s Strategic Plan.

• Audits and Enforcement
  • Management System Audits

    Audits evaluate how a company manages its activities. The CER expects regulated companies to have effective management systems and protection programs. Companies that manage their activities well can better anticipate, prevent, and mitigate issues that can affect safety, security, and the environment.

    After the CER completes an audit, it makes the report public. The audited company must then submit a Corrective and Preventative Action Plan and the CER will verify how the plan has been implemented. The CER expects all companies to consider and review the findings in these reports (which are summarized annually and issued as an Information Advisory) and use these learnings to improve their own management systems.

    In 2024-25, the CER conducted six management system audits. These audits assessed compliance with management system requirements related to emergency management, annual reporting and environmental protection programs, with a focus on lifecycle transition from construction to operations.

  • Inspection Officer Orders

    An Inspection Officer Order is issued when a situation requires immediate action to maintain safety and protect the environment. The Order will require a company to complete certain actions by a set date.

    In 2024-25, the CER issued seven Inspection Officer Orders. All Inspection Officer Orders (current and historical) and their status are available on the CER website.

  • Warning Letters and Administrative Monetary Penalties

    The CER, on occasion, determines that it is important that an accountable officer in a company is aware of the seriousness of an issue and will use a warning letter to do this. A warning letter is typically issued after other tools have been used such as a notice of non-compliance and/or Inspection Officer Order when an Inspection Officer thinks that seriousness of an offense warrants referral to an enforcement investigation. It is also used in areas such as export permits where Inspection Officer Orders are not used or for repeat non-compliances by third parties that are not typically the focus of compliance oversight.

    In 2024-25, the CER issued 18 Warning Letters, which is higher than usual due to the number of Warning Letters issued this year to address compliance with the Export and Import Regulations filing requirements. In addition, three Warning Letters were issued for violations of Damage Prevention regulations.

    Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) provide the CER with a flexible enforcement tool to promote compliance with legislation, regulations, decisions, permits, orders, licenses or certificate conditions. Both companies and individuals can be issued monetary penalties for actions that are unsafe.

    In 2024-25, the CER did not issue any AMPs.

• Orphan Pipeline Initiative

  During 2024-25, CER staff created clear processes for managing orphan pipelines regulated by the CER. Pipelines are designated as orphan or orphan abandoned pipelines when the company's directors or officers cannot be located, or the company is insolvent, bankrupt, or cannot be located. Additionally, work is underway to establish a long-term funding solution for abandonment activities associated with orphan pipelines. The CER has started pre-abandonment work on the DR Four Beat Energy Corp.’s Knappen Border Gas orphan pipeline. Appointed designated officers have decision-making authority over any action or measure in respect of designated orphan pipelines. To date, three CER-regulated pipelines have been designated as orphan, and two others are under assessment.

• Abandonment Cost Estimates and Set-Aside and Collection Mechanisms

  The Commission conducts periodic reviews to consider the amount of funds companies must set aside to pay for the future abandonment of their regulated pipeline systems, known as abandonment cost estimates. These reviews are typically done every five years. In the most recent review, the Commission issued updated estimates calculated with a new GIS-based methodology and directed companies that use a letter of credit or surety bond for its set-aside mechanism, to amend or replace its financial instruments using the new estimates by 31 May 2024. On 22 July 2024, the Commission issued non-compliance orders to 16 companies that did not meet those filing requirements. Companies using trusts were required to file updated information on how funds would be set aside over time. The Commission issued its decisions on those filings on 24 May and 30 August 2024.

• The CER continued to work to ensure that safety and oversight activities do not negatively impact Canadians from identifiable groups. The CER enforces specific conditions placed on an applicant relating to GBA Plus matters in the application assessment process in subsequent oversight activity.
• The CER conducts a GBA Plus analysis pursuant to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation for its regulation development projects. The CER continued strengthening its regulatory framework by assessing the impact that proposed regulatory framework changes could have on Canadians from identifiable groups, and applied a GBA Plus lens during the second phase of engagement on the review of the OPR.
• Communications with regulated industry will continue to use gender-neutral terms and promote gender-neutral terminology.

More information on the CER’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Results achieved

• CER Indigenous Cultural Intelligence

  The CER’s Indigenous Cultural Intelligence Framework guides the CER in navigating the internal transformation needed to implement the UN Declaration Act and advance Reconciliation and is a deliverable under the related Strategic Priority in the CER’s Strategic Plan. The Framework was finalized in September 2024 and is the result of organization-wide collaboration, including with the CER’s IAC and Indigenous Employee Circle. Through the implementation of the Framework, the CER is building its competency to create systemic changes by advancing the cultural intelligence of its staff. This allows CER staff to apply intercultural skills and knowledge in their work, fostering behavioural changes, setting expectations and accountabilities and recognizing the different values, belief systems and rights of Indigenous Peoples.

  In 2024-25, the Framework supported several key achievements: a new blueprint^Footnote 12 was developed to help staff engage with Indigenous Peoples in a culturally appropriate way; the CER awarded 10.3 per cent of its contracts to Indigenous-owned businesses - well above the federal target of five per cent; and, 62 per cent of employees took part in cultural intelligence training, which included land-based learning, two-eyed seeing, and trauma- and equity-informed practices.

• Indigenous Involvement in Oversight

  The CER is actively advancing the UN Declaration Act through UN Declaration Act APM SP34, co-developed with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the TMX Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee (TMX-IAMC). UN Declaration Act APM SP34 aims to enhance Indigenous Peoples' participation and enable them to exercise federal regulatory authority over CER-regulated projects.

  In 2024-25, a UN Declaration Act APM SP34 Leadership Group was formed with representatives from the CER, NRCan, and Indigenous Caucuses of the IAMCs for TMX and Line 3. This group is leading the implementation of UN Declaration Act APM SP34 by encouraging collaboration and offering strategic guidance. The CER is working toward a more consistent and structured way of involving Indigenous Peoples in the oversight of CER regulated energy infrastructure. This approach builds on existing partnerships and guidance of the Leadership Group.

  Through the TMX-IAMC and Line 3-IAMC, the CER continued to have important conversations to make sure that Indigenous perspectives, needs and realities in relation to federally-regulated energy infrastructure are addressed. These discussions provided valuable insights for strengthening Indigenous involvement in oversight.

  The CER has committed to developing a collaborative oversight mechanism for the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. System. This effort supports Reconciliation and aligns with the UN Declaration Act and UN Declaration Act APM SP34. In June 2024, a co-writing committee of 17 First Nation and Métis participants and CER staff was formed to advance conceptual work on the mechanism. Over the year, they co-developed a draft Summary Report of technical workshops held in early 2024. This report outlines Indigenous perspectives of what could form a collaborative mechanism that braids Western and Indigenous knowledges in regulatory oversight and integrates Indigenous voices in decision-making and the stewardship of their lands.

• Implementation Plan for UN Declaration Act APM SP34

  As part of setting out a multi-year implementation plan for collaboration on the implementation of UN Declaration Act APM SP34, the CER created the internal Collaborative Executive Roundtable and an external UN Declaration Act APM SP34 roundtable with Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committee Co-Chairs and Natural Resources Canada. These collaborative tables will help guide the work of APM SP34, which spans across multiple projects, units, and the organization, on a unified path forward. The implementation plan is a deliverable under the Reconciliation and Implementing the UN Declaration Act Strategic Priority in the CER’s Strategic Plan.

• Grants and Contributions

  The CER uses grants and contributions to enhance public participation in CER activities. In 2024-25, the CER administered $7.6 million in grant and contribution funding to Indigenous Nations participating in adjudication processes, Crown consultations, engagement with ongoing CER policy work, and to develop capacity to enable involvement^Footnote 13 in lifecycle oversight and related Indigenous monitoring committees. The CER also provided a $15,000 grant to the Canadian Standards Association to advance research in matters related to our oversight. Details on grants and contributions awarded by the CER are available through the Open Government portal.

Results achieved

• National Indigenous Engagement Blueprint

  The CER completed the National Indigenous Engagement Blueprint (the Blueprint), developed based on advice from the IAC, and part of the National Engagement Strategy and Framework. The Blueprint outlines best practices and tools for CER staff to engage with Indigenous communities in a meaningful way. The Blueprint:

  • Guides CER employees how to follow the National Engagement Strategy and Framework when working with Indigenous Peoples.
  • Supports relationship building by helping the CER to understand how to better strengthen and renew its relationships with Indigenous communities.
  • Supports planning and delivering engagement activities with Indigenous Peoples in a manner that meets the obligations under the UN Declaration, in particular, the requirement to assess an initiative against the intersections of the UN Declaration Act.
  • Assists the development of specific engagement plans for various initiatives.
• Stakeholder Engagement

  The CER undertook several regulatory change projects in 2024-25, which required significant engagement across the country to collect feedback from Indigenous Peoples and stakeholders. Focused engagement support resulted in more inclusive and effective written submissions to initiatives such as the OPR and Filing Manual review, updating the Rules of Practice and Procedure Regulations, and the Rapid Review Process. The CER's efforts to assess intersections of the UN Declaration and enhance regional engagement ensured that Indigenous concerns, such as environmental protection and safety in relation to traditional land use, are properly reflected. This inclusion not only leads to better policies but also strengthens relationships.

  The CER also developed engagement plans for the Pacific, Eastern and Prairie regions for implementation in 2025-26, and started development of the next iteration of the National Engagement Plan. These engagement plans are deliverables under the Trust and Confidence Strategic Priority in the CER’s Strategic Plan.

• Land Matters Advisory Committee

  In 2024-25, the members of the Land Matters Advisory Committee (LMAC) embarked on a new path, with the creation of a new Terms of Reference, a three-year Roadmap, and an action plan. The year was marked with the addition of representation from the local government sector that will complement the views and interests shared by landowner representatives. Over a two-day workshop, LMAC members provided feedback on several topics, including damage prevention and the issues revolving around Indigenous matters and how these could potentially impact all stakeholder groups. The action plan for 2025-26 will reflect some of the priorities identified during the meeting, including the collaborative development of guidelines for land agents and the publication of an information booklet for landowners.

• The CER continues to use feedback from stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples to ensure engagement activities are inclusive and consider GBA Plus factors. The organization will use distinction-based approaches and tailor its engagement to reflect First Nations, Inuit and Métis distinct governance structures and models when developing engagement plans with Indigenous communities.
• Engagement measures enable the CER to monitor how effectively it engages a diversity of views to inform its decisions and work. The CER is continuing to improve its performance measures to collect information that is relevant to providing a more comprehensive picture of the impact of its engagement efforts.
• The CER is continuing to explore modern approaches to find ways to engage and collaborate with a more diverse and geographically dispersed audience. It will consider different approaches to sharing information with individuals and communities who do not have regular access to high-speed internet connections.

More information on the CER’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

• The CER continued improving digital content, accommodating the diverse needs of Canadians, so that it is equally accessible to all audiences. We continued to assess our programs with a GBA Plus lens by referring to the Canada.ca Style Guide, and in our support of Priority Area Three: Information and Communication Technologies for the CER’s Accessibility Plan.

More information on the CER’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.