Hello, everyone. My name is Karen Finnan, and I'm a member of the Mohawk Nation, one of the 6 nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario. Having worked for nearly 16 years within TC Energy Stakeholder Relations Canada team in both land and indigenous relations, I'm very proud to be able to start our 2021 AGM off in a good way with the land acknowledgments. The elders taught us that it was respectful to acknowledge the land where we gather and the first peoples who traditionally lived on those lands. In that spirit of respect, I'd like to acknowledge that I'm speaking to you today from High River, Alberta on Treaty 7 lands and acknowledge and oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy, which includes the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani Nations.
I also acknowledge the Tsuut'ina Nation and the Stoney Nakota, which includes the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley Nations, as well as the Metis Nation of Alberta Region 3, who all make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta. Earlier this year, TC Energy released our first ever reconciliation action plan that outlines our reconciliation commitments to indigenous communities across North America. For me, reconciliation means acknowledging our dark history, acknowledging the mistreatment of indigenous people, recognizing the impacts the colonization had and continues to have on indigenous people, and then finding ways to work together to rebuild trust and mend those broken relationships. And while TC Energy has had a long history of working with and engaging indigenous communities, I'm very proud of the fact that with this plan, TC Energy wants to go further than just doing what we've always done. The fact that we've committed to building better relationships, stewarding cultural awareness and respect and strengthening our partnerships with indigenous groups and the areas where we do business is exciting and it's a step in the right direction towards achieving true reconciliation.
Again, It's been an honor to speak to you all today. Be safe, be kind and enjoy the rest of the meeting. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Karen, for that introduction. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Seem Vanasselja, and I'm honored to Chair of the Board of TC Energy Corporation, it's my pleasure to welcome you to our 2021 Annual Meeting of Common Shareholders. For the 2nd consecutive year, we are holding today's annual meeting virtually as a consequence of the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Safety and responsibility are 2 of our core values and we put these values first in all our decisions.
In the current circumstances, our priority is to protect the health and well-being of our shareholders, employees and community and to comply with all government requirements. And the best format for achieving that is a virtual meeting. We have, however, done our best to replicate the elements of an in person meeting and I really hope you find this experience equally engaging. The technology we're using today allows us allows our registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders to vote online and ask questions. Your questions may be submitted using the messaging icon on your screen.
Submit your questions as soon as possible to allow us to address them at the most appropriate point in our meeting. We will begin today's meeting with the formal items of Business that have been laid out in our management information circular dated March 4, 2021. Following that, we'll hear from our President and CEO, Francois Poirier. And as always, we will have a question and answer session after Francois's Thank you all for participating today. Joining me virtually and presenting with me today are Francois Troy Poirier, President and Chief Executive Officer and Chris Johnston, Vice President, Law and Corporate Secretary.
Chris will be acting as our secretary for this meeting and assisting with the moderation of any questions you submit. Also available by phone to answer relevant questions is Trevor Hammond of KPMG, our independent external auditor. Before we begin, I need to note that in our remarks today, certain statements may contain forward looking information that are subject to important risks and uncertainties. For more information on these, please refer to our 2020 Annual Report. With that, I'll now call the meeting to order and we'll open the online balloting for all items.
For our agenda today, only registered common shareholders or appointed proxy holders who have registered for this feeding are entitled to participate in our online platform. Guests, including those of you who are not registered shareholders or client proxy holders will be able to view and listen to the meeting. As outlined in the information circular, the purpose of the meeting is for our common shareholders to receive the 2020 consolidated financial statements and auditors report, to elect the directors, to appoint the auditors to consider and approve on an advisory basis TC Energy's approach to executive compensation And to approve amendments to our bylaw number 1. The meeting is going to proceed in the following manner. First, Chris Johnson will provide some additional instructions on how shareholders and proxy holders may vote and participate in our meeting today.
Next, we will appoint Computershare Trust Company of Canada as our scrutineers for the meeting and confirm that a quorum to conduct business has been met. We will then address each item of business set forth in the management information circular and answer questions, if any, related to those formal items of business. For the purpose of our meeting today, I will be moving each item of business and Chris Johnson as Corporate Secretary will second each motion. We are both duly appointed proxy holders. Next, the voting results will be announced.
And finally, once the formal business of the meeting has concluded, Francois will give his presentation with an update on the business and we'll have an opportunity to answer shareholder questions. I'll now pass the meeting over to Chris Johnson to review the process for voting and asking questions.
Thank you, Seem. I'll now provide some additional guidance on how to use our online platform. If you are a registered shareholder For a duly appointed proxy holder, you'll be able to vote on each item of business. The online balloting is already open. To vote, Click on the balloting button on the navigation bar.
Simply select your voting choice from the option shown on screen. A confirmation message will appear to show your vote has been received. Online balloting will remain open throughout the meeting and while we discuss each item of business. Proxies held by management be voted on the ballot as indicated in the proxies. If you have questions, select the messaging icon on your screen, enter your name and question And click the second and click the Send button.
If your question pertains to an item of formal business, please state which item of business it relates to and will be addressed at the appropriate time. Other questions related to TC Energy will be answered in the general question and answer session following the formal business of the meeting. We ask that you submit your questions early, so we can address them at the appropriate time. Please keep your questions brief and note that we may summarize or consolidate similar questions. We may not have time to get to every question, however.
If you include your contact information with the question, we will endeavor to provide you with a written response in due course.
Okay. Thank you for that, Chris. We will now move to appoint our scrutineers. In accordance with bylaw number 1 of the company, I now appoint Stephen Bandola, a representative of Computershare Trust Company of Canada to act as scrutineer for this meeting. The preliminary report by the scrutineer indicates that a quorum has been met and I would ask that they submit their final report on attendance when ready.
Chris Johnson will now report on the mailing of the notice calling this meeting And advising us about the process the meeting will follow. Chris?
Thank you, Seem. The mailing of the notice of availability of meeting materials and the form of proxy commenced March 30, 2021 to common shareholders of record in accordance with applicable law. An affidavit of mailing dated April 30, 2021, Attesting to the mailing of the notice in form of proxy was delivered by our transfer agent Computer Share Trust Company of Canada to us in advance of the meeting. Where required or requested, the management information circular and the annual report were mailed to shareholders. These documents have also been made available on our website.
Thanks, Chris. As notice of the meeting has been given and a quorum has been confirmed, I hereby declare this meeting is duly constituted for the transaction of business. As a reminder, the balloting is open and you may vote on all items of business as we go through them. The first item of business is the tabling of an annual report, our annual report, which includes the consolidated financial statements and the related auditors report. It has been made available for review by all our shareholders.
Okay. So the next item of business is the election of directors, each of whom will hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are earlier elected or appointed. This year, our Director nominees are Stephane Prettier, Michael R. Culvert, Susan C. Jones, Randy Limbacher, John Elo, David MacNaughton, Francois L.
Courrier, Una Power, Mary Pat Solomon Indira Samara Saqqara D. Michael G. Stewart Tiri Bendel And myself, Seem A. Venasalja. Steve Williams is not standing for reelection this year.
He is retiring from the Board effective today. And at this time, I want to thank Steve for the wealth of experience he's brought and his service to the Board. The Board has set the number of directors to be elected today at 13. Each nominee will serve for a term of 1 year, which expires at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I now move to nominate named and described in the circular to serve as directors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders Or until their successors are elected or appointed.
I second the motion.
We'll now open the floor for any questions on this item of business. Chris, have we received any questions or comments on this item?
No, Same. We haven't received any questions.
Thank you. We will then move on to the next item of business. I now move to appoint KPMG LLP Chartered Professional Accountants as the auditor of the company until the next Annual meeting of shareholders and authorize the directors of TC Energy to fix their remuneration.
I second the motion.
And Chris, are there any questions or comments on this item?
No, there are not, Steve.
Good. The next item then is the approval on an advisory basis of an ordinary resolution approving TC Energy's approach to executive compensation. We welcome your views on executive compensation as it is a matter It's very important to the Board. The text of the resolution is set out in the management information circular. While the vote on an advisory basis is not binding, the Board will certainly take the results of the vote into account when considering future compensation policies and decisions.
I now move the resolution to accept on an advisory basis The company's approach to executive compensation described in the circular.
I second the motion.
And Chris, have we received any questions or comments on this item?
No, we have not received any questions on this item of business.
Thank you. The next item is the approval of amendments to Bylot number 1. The text for the resolution is set out in the circular. Generally, these amendments will allow TC Energy to hold virtual shareholder meetings without requiring a court order. We're not making decisions for the future, but we want to allow for that flexibility.
The amendment also updates our advanced notice Provisions to align with current guidance provided by proxy advisory firms and makes other modernizing changes to the language A bylaw number 1 relating to the execution of documents, powers of attorney and authorization of banks. The Board believes these amendments provide updates that are in accordance with evolving corporate governance practices. In particular, the amendments allow TC Energy to hold virtual meetings and provides us with much needed flexibility in the near term as continue to navigate the challenges and restrictions brought on by the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Regardless of whether our annual meeting is held physically or virtually, we are committed to providing shareholders with a meaningful opportunity to participate in meetings as fully as possible. Shareholders will always have the opportunity to ask Questions of management and the Board vote on items of business in real time and we intend to make the meeting as accessible as possible to all shareholders and proxy holders.
These amendments to bylaw number 1, which were approved in February by the Board must be ratified by shareholders in order to remain effective. So I now move the resolution to approve the amendments to Bylaw number 1 as set out In the 2021 Management Information Circular.
I second the motion.
And Chris, have we received any questions on this item?
No, Same. We've not received any questions on this item of business.
Thank you. As we have now concluded each item of formal business, I will pause for a moment to allow shareholders to complete the online balloting. If you haven't already done so, please cast your ballot now. And I'll give everyone a bit more time. Okay.
I declare the balloting is now closed. The corporate secretary has received the scrutineers preliminary report on attendance And the results of the votes. Chris, would you please provide the results to the meeting?
Yes. Thanks, team. The preliminary scrutineers report on attendance at the meeting has now been received. It shows that 69.04% of the issued notes pending shares of the company have voted on TC Energy's 2021 items of business. I've also received the preliminary reports this route near On the election of directors, appointments of the auditor, the company's approach to executive compensation and amendments to bylaw number 1.
The scrutineers report indicates that each item of business has received the requisite number of votes to pass. The detailed results for each item of business will be filed on SEDAR on Monday, May 10, 2021.
Thanks, Chris. Based on the results, I declare that all items of business have passed. And I now direct that the scrutineers report on the ballots be annexed to the minutes of the meeting. As this now concludes our formal business, I move to conclude the meeting. Chris, will you second that motion?
I second the motion.
Thank you. Since our first virtual meeting last year, the world has continued to adapt to living with COVID-nineteen and it's been inspiring to see the collective effort being undertaken to navigate our way through this extraordinary time to the other side of the pandemic. I know I speak for our shareholders and the Board in thanking the entire TC Energy team and leadership for continuing to deliver energy People need every day, guided by our values of safety, responsibility, collaboration and integrity. From the onset of the pandemic, TC Energy adapted quickly to ensure our business plans remained uncompromised. As a Board, this included our succession planning activities and the retirement of our former Chief Executive Officer, Russ Girling at the end of 2020.
Beyond the tremendous shareholder value generated during Russ's tenure, His discipline, integrity and strategic leadership were instrumental in TC Energy's ongoing success. So on behalf of the Board, I'd like to sincerely thank Russ for his many distinguished years of service and wish him all the very best in his retirement. Succession planning though is an ongoing process at TC Energy and one the Board takes very seriously. We carefully assess the skills, experience, performance record and personal attributes required for the Chief Executive Officer role. When Russ announced his intention to retire, we were well prepared for a transition.
Francois brings over 30 years of relevant experience, including his instrumental role on our executive leadership team for over 5 years. He's shown dedication to TC Energy's long term success and demonstrated strong strategic vision, leadership and commitment to our core values. So it was with every confidence that we appointed him as CEO effective January 1 this year. It is indeed a very exciting time to guide TC Energy forward. Francois's integrity, strategic thinking, Commercial acumen and bottom line focus will serve the company well in the years ahead.
And with that, It's my pleasure to turn it over to Francois for his remarks. Francois?
Thank you very much, Seem. Before I start, I want to note that we are following all necessary COVID-nineteen guidelines. We have a limited and physically distanced crew in the room So that we can bring this to you at the AGM today. Seem, I agree with your comments about Russ and I personally appreciated His unwavering support as we collaborated on a smooth transition. He worked tirelessly to ensure it was seamless.
Russ, thank you. I'm honored to be here today for my first annual meeting as President and Chief Executive Officer. Some of you may not know me yet. I hope that during this time, you will learn a bit about who I am and what I see with respect to the many opportunities that lie ahead for our company. I'm humbled to follow in the honest, candid and rich conversation that past CEOs and Boards have held with our shareholders for 7 decades.
That's right, 2021 is our 70th birthday and I think we have a lot to be proud of. Our vision is to be America's North America's premier energy infrastructure company now and in the future. The reference to the future in our new vision is an explicit acknowledgment that we're in an energy transition And my belief that this will present significant new investment opportunities for TC Energy. Since becoming CEO, I've had opportunities to speak to our shareholders, our employees and other key stakeholders about this vision and how we're making it happen. You've also told me what matters to you, so I'm going to spend some time today focusing on those areas.
2020 was a year for the ages. As COVID-nineteen reached around the globe, Entire populations rose to the occasion. Thank you to everyone for your sacrifices and for your endurance throughout this experience. There's no doubt that the human cost of this virus has been staggering, but with vaccines rolling out, I am optimistic about our road to recovery. Last March, governments in Canada, the U.
S. And Mexico all deemed TC Energy's work to be essential. We are a $100,000,000,000 company with 100,000 kilometers of pipe. We deliver approximately 25 percent of North America's daily natural gas needs and supply 4,200 megawatts of power, Enough for 4,000,000 homes. It is our responsibility to ensure that North Americans' energy needs are met when they need them.
For example, throughout the pandemic, we provided the power that ran technology when millions of people began working remotely. We delivered the heat that kept homes and hospitals warm through the coolest days of winter and we transported the fuel that Vehicles carrying important goods could reach their destinations. Thank you to our customers who supply and serve the critical energy we move across The continent and thank you to our employees and contractors. Whether physically at work in the field or working in makeshift home offices, Your creativity, your resilience and your unshakable dedication ensure that these essential services continue despite unprecedented conditions. Now let's be honest, in North America, it's easy to take our access to abundant, affordable and reliable energy for granted.
But making sure that energy is delivered safely and sustainably is a responsibility we take very seriously. One thing I've been asked is, what did our work look like in 2020? Among our many accomplishments, we proceeded with our capital projects cautiously and with utmost care for the health and safety of our workers and the communities. We put $5,900,000,000 worth of projects into service And I want to take a moment to talk about what that number means. We worked with our contractors on comprehensive COVID-nineteen safety programs.
We also worked harder than ever to hire and buy locally. We filled up at community gas stations. We enlisted local restaurants to feed our crews. And when we get feedback from our communities about the positive impact we make, we feel a sense of pride. On our BXP natural gas pipeline project through Ohio, for example, one restaurant owner specifically said the income from making meals for our workers kept their cafe open during the pandemic.
Beyond these dollars that supported communities and kept our crews working And our operations running, we also donated $31,000,000 to community organizations across our footprint, including $5,200,000 for causes related specifically to COVID-nineteen relief efforts. I'm always proud of the many benefits our projects and our operations bring to communities from the energy they deliver to the local employment to the spin off economic impacts, but it has never been more pronounced to me than it was in 2020. At the same time, we've continued to enhance our approach to sustainability, stakeholder engagement and ESG. Last year, we published 10 new sustainability commitments that contribute to the achievement of several of the United Nations' sustainable development goals. We also set targets related to inclusion and diversity, mental well-being, governance and safety, And there are more targets to come.
Operating safely is a company value and a key sustainability commitment. To support our goal of 0 safety incidents, we employ approximately 500 professionals and invest over $1,000,000,000 annually in the integrity of our infrastructure. We use the most advanced data analytics and risk evaluation methodologies in the industry And we perform annual meter by meter risk assessments on all of our pipelines. We're also undertaking a rigorous process to set targets to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from our operations and we will provide more detail on that by the end of 2021. Last year, we committed to developing an Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan, which I am incredibly proud to say we published in March of this year.
As Karen noted in our land acknowledgment at the beginning of the meeting. Our asset footprint touches more than 200 indigenous groups across Canada, the U. S. And Mexico. So we want to play a pivotal role in supporting the growth of resilient indigenous communities And the development of a strong shared future.
We are among the first of North America's energy industry to publish a plan like this And we've included tangible, measurable goals to demonstrate our progress. 2020 was also a year of significant advancement And other discussions around inclusion and diversity. We believe that supporting and promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce reduces turnover, increases innovation and frankly it's a competitive advantage. We want our workforce to reflect the many dimensions of diversity in the communities where we live and work and we want an inclusive workplace that allows our people to flourish and realize their potential. So we invest in education for the next generation of diverse talent through scholarships, partnerships with universities and colleges And through our summer internship program, which we made sure we continued even through COVID-nineteen.
Now these are starting points that build off on a long and deep culture. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable And publish ongoing updates and I encourage you to read our materials and please let us know if you have feedback. We are listening. In addition to delivering energy safely, reliably and sustainably, we continue to deliver strong financial results in 2020. Approximately 95% of our comparable EBITDA comes from regulated and or long term contracted assets.
This largely insulates us from the short term market volatility that was particularly pronounced last year. As a result, our portfolio of high quality Long life energy assets generated record comparable earnings of $3,900,000,000 or $4.20 per common share. Comparable EBITDA was $9,400,000,000 while comparable funds generated from operations also hit a record high of $7,400,000,000 Each of these amounts demonstrates the quality and the resiliency of our legacy assets as well as the impact of bringing those $5,900,000,000 of new assets into service in 2020. This morning, we announced Q1 2021 financial results and our portfolio continued to perform very well. Excluding the Keystone XL impairment charge, Comparable earnings for the Q1 were $1,100,000,000 or $1.16 per common share.
Overall, our financial position remains strong And we expect our solid operating and financial results to continue going forward. If you're interested in a deeper dive on our financial results, I invite you to tune into our Q1 2021 analyst call at 1 pm Mountain Daylight Time. Some of you have asked me what the next decade will look like at TC Energy. Our broad network of high quality critical assets provides us with a strong competitive advantage. As we've seen through COVID-nineteen, these assets are highly utilized and essential to the functioning of North America's society and economy.
However, with so much discussion about energy transition going on around us, it's easy to forget that the world continues to rely on large quantities of natural gas and oil. Even the widest ranging scenarios show these forms of energy will continue to be needed for the foreseeable future. We believe that energy demand will continue to grow and the energy mix of the future will evolve With renewables, for example, making up a greater proportion of the overall fuel mix. So as we look ahead, It's from our irreplaceable footprint that we will grow our energy offerings as we participate in the energy transition. Our footprint 10 years from now will evolve from what you see here today, the same way that our footprint 10 years ago looked like a younger version of this one.
While the types of energy we will deliver may change, how we continue to invest and grow will be very familiar to you. We will not compromise our commitment to being thoughtful, deliberate and disciplined in every investment decision we make. So what does it mean to be the premier energy infrastructure company in North America now and in the future? When you think about where we are now, consider our $20,000,000,000 capital program, which is oriented towards the growth and maintenance of our natural gas pipeline portfolio. Natural gas has played a key role in both displacing higher emission coal fired power and providing a necessary backstop to the intermittency of renewable power sources.
It is reliable and highly efficient and the role of natural gas And a successful transition cannot be understated. With 95,000 kilometers or 60,000 miles of existing natural gas pipelines, We are well positioned to continue to meet growing demand through highly executable in corridor expansions. Our capital plan also includes Bruce Power's life extension program, which will see reliable, emissionless power delivered in Ontario many decades into the future. Today, we are refurbishing the first of 6 reactors under a contract that extends out to 2,064. Work on the other 5 reactors will occur in succession through 2,032 providing us with a multibillion dollar investment opportunity and providing the province with emissionless power well into the future.
Now I want to take a moment here to talk about Keystone XL. Our teams worked very hard to reimagine this project and develop it in a way that our stakeholders expect of us. The effort involved was simply remarkable. From stakeholder engagement to engineering quality and environmental protection, this project was as well planned and studied as any energy infrastructure project in history and it certainly would have reduced imports of oil into North America from countries with lower ESG standards than our own. I could go on for a while here because there are so many reasons the project supported a socially an environmentally conscious North America with many layers of shared benefit.
Instead, I'll conclude the topic with a thank you to everyone involved in the project. From employees and contractors To labor organizations, our indigenous partners, to elected officials, to industry groups and local communities, I'm grateful for the ingenuity and dedication you brought to this pipeline project. Yes, we were very disappointed with the executive to revoke the presidential permit, but the experience we gained is not lost. Through this exercise, we identified meaningful indigenous equity Collaborated with Union Labor and developed a robust plan to make the pipeline net 0 emissions from the moment it would have gone into service in 2023. And you can expect to see this innovative approach applied across our businesses going forward.
For instance, you may have seen our recent media advisory exploring wind energy projects to power some of our pipeline systems across our U. S. Corridor. This would not only significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from our operations, But it also has the potential to provide additional attractive investment opportunities for the company. Now we know that to remain prosperous, we need to embrace new technologies as they evolve.
That means carefully monitoring and considering new technologies and leveraging the unique technical capabilities of our own people. In 2020, we advanced over 140 innovation projects focused on pipeline safety and reliability, technological advancement And sustainability. We have led the way in research and development breakthroughs. A few examples include using mobile compressors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during pipeline maintenance and working with our partners at our TC Energy Owned Research Centre in Didsbury, Alberta to improve gas flow through at our facilities. This recent innovation has helped us meet our customers' needs while reducing our capital costs.
We're also considering a range of opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint such as replacing our gas turbines with electric motors and powering our own electrical load using renewables. We have a close eye on emerging technologies including hydrogen, Large scale battery storage and carbon capture utilization and storage. In fact, we already transport renewable natural gas from 6 Facilities in Canada and the United States and continue to assess commercial opportunities to transport additional renewable natural gas as they arise. We've partnered with Siemens Energy Canada On the world's 1st waste heat capturing power facility that uses supercritical CO2. And we are advancing 2 utility scale pumps hydro projects, a 75 Megawatt storage facility in Alberta and a 1,000 Megawatt storage facility in Ontario.
Many of these are complex projects from both a technical and a stakeholder engagement point of view and our people are uniquely qualified to bring them to fruition. We have all of the critical elements needed to capture future projects that meet our familiar risk return profile. You've also asked about TC Energy's ability to support continued dividend growth. We have consistently allocated our internally generated cash flow in a way that strikes the right balance between maintaining a strong balance sheet, funding our growth and paying a sustainable and growing dividend. Our approach has been driven by the belief that a self funding model Along with strong credit ratings, we'll maximize shareholder value over the long term.
Based on the strength of our financial performance And our promising outlook, our Board of Directors declared a Q2 2021 dividend of $0.87 per common share, which is equivalent to $3.48 per share on an annual basis. This represents a 7.4% increase over the amount declared in 2020 And is the 21st consecutive year that our Board has raised the dividend. Supported by our strong balance sheet and our proven capital allocation model, We have delivered double digit average annual shareholder returns for over 2 decades. And looking forward, We expect to continue to grow our dividend at an average annual rate of 5% to 7% while maintaining appropriate coverage ratios. In order to deliver on our growth plans, we are targeting to invest $5,000,000,000 to $6,000,000,000 annually and we see plenty of opportunity to do so.
Longer term, we believe our tried and tested model is resilient and that will not change as we move ahead. Our goal is to build on our long term history of success agnostic to which form of energy will ultimately win. Yes, you will see our capital investments shift over time to meet the energy mix of the future And this represents a massive opportunity for us. Let me leave you with this important point. Consider our existing asset base, Our technical capabilities, our commitment to innovating and our enviable financial strength, I believe we have all the right ingredients to be agile And to prosper whatever the form or direction energy transition ultimately takes.
I have every confidence that the future opportunity set combined with our capabilities will continue to deliver superior risk adjusted Total shareholder returns well into the future. So overall, I've resoundingly heard you say that TC Energy is a good company with Strong management and excellent governance. Thank you for that message and it's indeed my pleasure to pass it along to our broader team today. So with that, I'll turn it over to our Chair and Secretary for the Q and A, and I'll be back for a few closing remarks at the end.
Thank you very much, Francois. We'll now take the opportunity to respond to any shareholder questions. We'll do our best to respond to all questions. But if you include your contact information with your question, we can also follow-up with a more detailed response. Chris, are there any questions?
Yes. We do have a question from Jonathan Sadler, Who is a registered shareholder. He has 3 questions. So I'll do one at a time here. His first question and I'll turn it over to you to Francois.
What are your plans to repurpose the assets of Keystone XL?
So our first priority on Keystone XL is to make sure that we wind down through the suspension of our construction activities in a very safe manner. Beyond that, we'll be working with our partners to look at The most efficient ways to recover capital and to minimize any future capital spend. On that basis, of course, The ability to repurpose some of the existing assets would contribute to achieving that objective. As you look at the construction program through 2020, Essentially in the U. S, it comprised of a number of pump stations.
We are examining whether or not those pump stations really in the southern part of our system Southern part of our system, excuse me, can be repurposed for utilization on our Keystone system. And in Canada, a couple of pump stations as well as about 100 kilometers of pipe that was laid. And of course, Over time, we'll be looking at opportunities to repurpose those pipeline assets in Canada as well, be it in our Liquids business unit or in our Canada Gas business unit or in any other part of the organization.
Thank you, Francois. The second question from Jonathan Sadler is as follows. How do you measure the efficiency of your pipeline operations? Where does TC Energy Efficiency compare to other pipeline companies?
Thank you for the question. And I could tell you it's something that we focus on constantly. We benchmark our performance against our peers. All of our peers and ourselves do submit a substantial amount of information in the form of regulatory filings. In addition, we and our peers participate in voluntary benchmarking exercises so that we can actually make sure that we're operating As efficiently as we can and learn from best practice.
I would say that there are a tremendous number of measures focusing on 1 versus the other Would get us into a lot of detail, but on the whole we are performing as an average to slightly above average Operator in the industry, I would say that through the extreme cold temperatures that we Experienced in February both in Alberta and in Texas that our assets performed exceedingly well. We broke single day send out records on our U. S. Gas pipeline system. We delivered more megawatt hours from our cogen facilities in Alberta than We have in many, many years, we had above 99.3% availability for our cogens during that Spell of extreme cold temperature, which of course we feel very proud because we help keep people warm during those extreme temperatures.
We have. We spent about $1,000,000,000 a year on integrity. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we adopted 140 innovations this year. This is a continuous journey where we're looking to continually improve and I'm proud of the progress that we've made as an organization in terms of Our operational efficiencies and our safety record.
Thanks, Francois. The third question for Mr. Sadler is along the same lines. How do you measure TC Energy's safety performance? And how does TC Energy's performance on safety compare to the industry?
So safety is our number one core value. Our four values are safety, integrity, responsibility and collaboration. As a matter of fact, next week is 0 week within our organization. So for us safety starts with A culture above all else where we're ensuring the safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate. At a minimum every year in our annual scorecard 20% of our performance score is Dedicated to our safety results.
And we have shown continuous improvement. We just had a conversation about this Yesterday actually with our Board of Directors looking at the 5 year trends in our safety record and we have shown continuous improvement In the majority of the 6 categories that we track as we look to improve our safety record.
Chris, are there any further questions from shareholders?
I'm just looking and no, that appears to be the end of our questions. So Francois, I'll be turning it over to you to make some concluding remarks.
Thanks, Chris. I'm a big believer that actions speak louder than words. So I want to thank you and thank everyone for your individual actions that bring TC Energy's vision and its values to life every day. We have a great team here from our Board of Directors and our leadership to our over 8,500 employees and contractors. To wrap up, our core beliefs aren't changing and I am optimistic and excited about our future as a company.
We have the right people, the right assets and the right opportunities to be the premier energy infrastructure company in North America now and in the future. To all our shareholders, thank you for your continued support. And to everyone taking part in our 2021 Annual Meeting today, Thank you for participating. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.