The overwhelming majority of the CEC’s budget was intended for paid advertising campaigns that cannot proceed during the COVD-19 pandemic. As a result, the CEC has reduced its current spending to subsistence operations at this time.
Spending will be limited to functions such as continuing and preparing research, office infrastructure and administrative support. If applied on an annual basis, this reflects a 90 per cent reduction in the CEC’s operating budget from $30 million to $2.84 million.
The CEC plans to maintain a reduced budget for a period of three months or until regular operations can recommence. This includes taking steps to end all paid advertising campaigns, pausing work with outside contractors and ensuring it is well-positioned to resume operations when the time is right.
“Global energy demand is down dramatically because of reduced consumption due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Saudi-initiated price war. But in time, demand will recover. The world still needs reliable energy. While some would like to capitalize on this unprecedented crisis to permanently shut down Canadian oil and gas, we do not believe we should surrender the global energy market to these opponents. The CEC will continue to be required to promote and defend Canadian energy.”
Two-thirds of the CEC’s allocated budget is provided directly from industry via the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) levy. The remaining third consists of reallocated advertising funds from previous budgets.