ENVIRONMENT: COMPARE THE LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES' VIEWSSCOTT BRISON'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVEENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Scott Brison wants to build on the Liberal commitment to the Kyoto Accord to help forge a cleaner greener Canada, and a cleaner greener world. He feels Canada should become an environmental leader through the preservation and stewardship of the environment. He wants to turn the reality that Canadians are big energy consumers into a positive strategic advantage by making Canada a global centre of excellence for environmental industries. He will offer industries a vastly improved tax credit system to encourage investment in clean and efficient technologies and attract environmental companies from around the world. He wants to make Canada a world leader in the area of environmental clean-ups and he would partner the private sector with CIDA to add expertise on environmental remediation to the tool-box we now offer to help uplift the developing world. He feels there should be legislation to set mandatory pollution reduction levels for motor vehicles. He would work with industry to encourage the production of more alternative-fuel vehicles and encourage drivers to purchase low sulphur or ethanol blended fuels by reducing the federal excise tax on those products. He will work with provinces to improve standards for clean air and water.
GERARD KENNEDY'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVEKENNEDY PROPOSES GST BREAK FOR HYBRID CAR PURCHASERS
News Release June 16, 2006
Releases energy and the environment plan, calls on Canadians to join discussion
TORONTO - Canada will be a clean energy superpower by 2020 under my proposed energy and environment plan, said Liberal Leadership Candidate, Gerard Kennedy today while releasing a discussion paper on the topic, as part of an ongoing series of papers intended to solicit broad input from Canadians. "Energy and the environment are becoming the most crucial issues facing Canadians," said Kennedy. "How we produce and consume energy and what we do to protect and preserve the environment, will determine the sustainability of our economy and lifestyle."
Kennedy's Energy and Environment plan highlights Canada's abundant energy resources including oil and natural gas, the world's largest production of hydroelectricity and untapped potential in alternative energy such as wind, small/low impact hydro, biomass and geothermal power but cautions that current federal energy policies are insufficient and Canada's protection of the environment is too slow and too cautious. "We have the know-how and means to be the cleanest country on the planet but in order for Canada to emerge as a clean energy superpower, we must adopt policies that bring industry, consumers and government together, said Kennedy. "A carbon tax would only serve to divide Canada along regional lines and would be counter to driving national consensus on a national issue." Kennedy's plan is a national framework to get provinces working together toward the same environmental goals and targets and is based on supply and demand of energy, rewarding conservation and ensuring consistent tracking of results.
Developed with his campaign team and input from across the country, the specific strategies and targets outlined in the paper include: A GST exemption of up to $5000, for hybrid, hydrogen and fuel cell and ultra clean bio-diesel vehicles. A progressive gas-guzzler tax on all vehicles that have worse than average fuel consumption, 50 per cent of government fleet purchases to be hybrids or alternative fuelled vehicles by 2010 and 100 per cent by 2015, One per cent improvement in energy consumption per capita in five years and three per cent over the next 10 years, Drive innovation by using the tax code to encourage investment in environmental technologies that will result from higher risk, longer term R&D. Adopt highest possible efficiency in home and commercial heating and cooling by providing incentives for ground-source heat pumps, Create programs and greater incentives for conservation including home retrofit programs and pilot programs to monitor energy consumption and energy cost by the minute. Introduce a mandatory market-based system that allows companies to register and trade emission credits. ·Set national objectives for alternative fuels and sources of energy including: 5 per cent renewable fuels by 2010 and 10 per cent by 2015 5000 MW of wind energy by 2010, and 10,000 MW by 2015 500 MW of new biomass, geothermal and solar energy by 2010, and 3000 MW by 2015.
"We can lead Canadians on the international scene where, until recently, we were respected and admired for our fine environmental record," said Former Minister of the Environment Charles Caccia, " But, we need a leader with a strong commitment to the environment and to environmentally sustainable development; a leader who will not only talk but also walk the talk; a leader who sees beyond the horizon of the next election; We have such a leader in Gerard Kennedy." The plan calls for the decentralization of the decision-making process in order to seek the input of those who are most actively involved in energy production and environmental protection. "We must adopt energy and environment policies that reflect the challenges our producers face from the oil fields off Newfoundland's coast to the oil sands in Alberta," said Kennedy. "We must also actively consider strategies to engage First Nations and other Aboriginal peoples to take full advantage of the economic opportunities that Canada as a clean energy super power will bring."
Why energy and the environment matter to me – and to all of us
Many of us come from the generation that grew up with environmentalism as the central issue facing the future. I was young when the first environmental stories emerged – about pollution, abuse of pesticides, waste and the squandering of resources. I was a youth when the first energy crisis stuck us in the 1970s – and a young adult in Alberta in the 1980s when the huge policy miscalculation, the National Energy Program, harmed the province at that time. I have most recently served as a cabinet minister in an Ontario Liberal government that has made great strides in environmental protection – but we still have a long way to go.
Energy and the environment are becoming the most crucial issues Canadians face. How we produce and consume energy and what we do to protect and preserve the environment, will determine the sustainability of our economy and our lifestyle.
Unlike the Conservatives, who choose to lay blame, chop programs and then throw up their hands in defeat of the issue…
We need to be enterprising. We need to be creative. We need to act.
Our current path is unsustainable – our energy policies are insufficient and our protection of the environment is too slow and too cautious.
As the population grows, energy and resources are being consumed at an ever-increasing rate. The science is undeniable: without change, our air and water, our forests and food, our cities and our homes will face remarkable challenges within a generation.
Sustainable development is a principle by which all government programs should be measured against. As we address the link between energy and the environment, we can also explore how to alter our lifestyles by:
Consuming less
Being smarter and more efficient in our consumption and purchasing choices
Adopting some new thinking about alternative fuels and power
Helping emerging economies to grow in a more sustainable manner.
Canada as a Clean Energy Superpower
Canada can be a “Clean Energy Superpower” by 2020 – less than 15 years from now. We are already an energy superpower. We have the know-how and means to be the cleanest on the planet.
We have one of the most dynamic economies on earth and some of the most abundant energy resources including oil and natural gas, the world’s largest production of hydroelectricity and enormous untapped potential in alternative energy such as wind, small/low impact hydro, biomass and geothermal.
Canada is already an energy superpower, and we will become even more of an energy superpower over the next 20 years. In order to become the clean energy superpower, we must:
conserve energy, and become much more efficient in the way we use it
reduce the amount of carbon we produce relative to the energy we consume; this can be done by switching as much as possible to renewable fuels, as well as using technology to reduce carbon output from fossil fuels
develop carbon sequestration technology so that carbon is not released into the atmosphere when it is produced
offset the carbon we do produce through “carbon sinks” such as reforestation
export our technology and expertise so that our economy is further developed while we pursue environmental sustainability
By consolidating our assets, co-coordinating our energy policies, achieving energy efficiencies, promoting energy conservation, supporting public transit and trains, reshaping the automotive industry and using landfill gases for district heating we can focus on achieving the goal: clean, green power.
Conservatives would abandon Kyoto, cancel incentives and programs to reduce C02 omissions and leave protecting the environment largely to the marketplace. While markets are important and have an important role in solving our energy and environmental challenges, it is only by combining markets with federal, provincial, business and NGO leadership that we will become a clean energy superpower.
Our ability to compete internationally and influence other nations will be measured on our ability to uphold our commitments to the environment.
It is critical that we move forward now.
A National Strategy for Our Environment
The global economy is changing and energy and environment issues are gaining momentum and importance. As an advanced nation, we have a duty and responsibility to develop a plan that maximizes the value of our resources, minimizes the impact of their extraction and utilization and also protects our environment.
We have to decentralize the decision-making process and seek the input of those who are most actively involved in energy production and environmental protection. We must adopt energy and environment policies that reflect the challenges our producers face from the oil fields off Newfoundland’s coast to the energy sector in Alberta.
We need environmental policies that reflect the concerns about smog, water pollution and toxic waste identified by our environmental experts. We need a forum for technology providers that are working to develop new and enterprising innovations and we must consult with aboriginal peoples to protect their ecosystem, while allowing them to take full advantage of the economic opportunities that Canada, as a clean energy super power, will bring.
An Inclusive Framework – How we’ll get there
There is a role for a national framework – a strategy to get the provinces working, in their own way, toward the same common environmental goals and targets.
The framework of the strategy has three pillars –
it will be based on supply and demand of energy
it will encourage and reward conservation and the production and use of clean energy
and it will be measured relentlessly: Is it working? Is it cost-effective? Is the environment getting better and the economy getting stronger?
We will recognize sound environmental stewardship – as a driver for creativity, innovation, product development and ultimately profitability and we will encourage enterprise -- innovators and risk takers should be rewarded for their leadership and for driving innovation.
Elements of the plan include:
1. Setting national objectives for alternative fuels and sources of energy including:
· 5 per cent renewable fuels by 2010 and 10 per cent by 2015 (for example, ethanol, bio-diesel)
· 5000 MW of wind energy by 2010, and 10,000 MW by 2015
· 500 MW of new biomass, geothermal and solar energy by 2010, and 3000 MW by 2015
2. Providing reasonable production incentives to produce renewable energy. For example, we will drive innovation by using the tax code to encourage investment in environmental technologies that will result from higher risk, longer term R&D.
3. Optimizing our national transmission and distribution system (including pipelines and the electricity grids) by:
· Creating national systems that are safe, efficient and secure
· Encouraging investment and development by committing to streamlined and transparent processes (ex. removing duplicative federal and provincial work) and reasonable permitting timelines
4. Encouraging, through federal policies and assistance, provincial utilities to embrace renewable projects and integrate them into their transmission and distribution grids, and to explore energy storage solutions that will make intermittent clean sources of energy more useful in our energy networks
5. Setting national objectives on conservation:
· One per cent improvement in energy consumption per capita in five years and three per cent over the next 10 years. Our energy consumption per capita has been rising over the past 30 years, despite the availability of new technologies. We need to turn this around, and start investing in and using the most efficient equipment and processes available.
· Raising our standards by 25 per cent for energy consumption in new home construction and new appliances by 2015 (through building codes, equipment and appliance standards).
6. Committing government support to smart energy alternatives including:
Hybrid vehicles
Hydrogen and fuel cells vehicles and power plants
Modern, high-efficiency and ultra clean bio-diesel vehicles
7. Introducing a GST exemption of up to $5000, for smart energy vehicles and a progressive gas-guzzler tax on all vehicles that have worse than average fuel consumption.
Canadian cars are typically on the road for more than 12 years. We need to encourage consumers to buy fuel-efficient vehicles, which will have an important impact on the environment for years to come.
8. Ensuring that 50 per cent of the government’s fleet purchases are hybrids or alternative fuelled vehicles by 2010 and 100 percent by 2015.
9. Creating programs and greater incentives for conservation including home retrofit programs, pilot programs to monitor energy consumption and energy cost by the minute. At the same time, speed up the approval process for new energy-savings products and systems.
10. Encouraging the highest possible efficiency in home and commercial heating and cooling by providing incentives for ground-source heat pumps. The province of Manitoba has made important strides in this area, and that good work should be replicated nationally.
11. Instilling reachable goals. All new, large energy development projects should have an “environmentally neutral footprint” (for example, if greenhouse gases and local pollutants will be increased, there must be an offset for the project to move forward). Further, we should introduce a mandatory market-based system that allows companies to register and trade emission credits.
KEN DRYDEN'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE CLIMATE CHANGE It is time to acknowledge the reality of climate change and get on with the job of taking it on. The well-reported extent of environmental degradation, collapsing ecosystems, loss of species and the melting of our Polar ice cap has dwarfed any claim that we could make of having achieved a state of sustainable development. The science and consequences of global-warming are sufficiently certain that delay is no longer an option. We must immediately commit the resources to addressing the causes and consequences of climate change. Furthermore, I believe that the protection of our health, natural resources and the environment should be grounded first and foremost in science. It is the starting point for meaningfully confronting our challenges in these areas. And while taking on climate change presents big challenges, it also presents big opportunities to develop expertise and leading technologies that we can demonstrate work in Canada and then export to the rest of the world. Canada can take early mover advantage of these opportunities to build new and competitive industries.
STEPHANE DION'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVECanada's Project Green
Speaking notes for the Honourable Stéphane Dion, P.C., M.P. Minister of the Environment
Vancouver Board of Trade, Vancouver, BC, September 19, 2005
In communicating with Canadians about Project Green, Paul Martin’s vision to strengthen Canada’s position in the new Industrial Revolution - that of the sustainable economy - it is particularly fitting for me to be returning to British Columbia, to address the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Vancouver is a focal point for sustainability, as you host the World Urban Forum and the Olympics, a huge opportunity to showcase renewables and the hydrogen highway.
British Columbia: the province where we see one of our fastest growing economies and highest levels of environmental awareness; home of the Suzuki Foundation and of Xantrex Technology, a world leader in advanced bio-electronics; and the land that gave Canada the three great Davids: David Suzuki, David Anderson, a champion of the environment who cares about the economy, and David Emerson, a champion of the economy who cares about the environment.
I should also mention the other members of the Cabinet from BC: Senator Austin and Ministers Dosanjh, Owen, and Chan; all bring a green conscience to decision making.
Here, in British Columbia, in the shadow of your mountains, of your Douglas Fir and Red Cedar, the environment-economy debate seems to take on a larger scale: the incredible potential of your ocean resources and the no less incredible potential for disaster if they are harvested carelessly; the amazing diversity and richness of the Okanagan Valley and the amazing fragility of its superb, semi-desert ecosystem; the unrivalled development of your forest industry and the ferocity of the pine beetle infestation that your warmer winters cannot slow; the huge volume of raw sewage dumped by Victoria into the ocean every day and the huge cost that will be required to clean it up; the tough challenges posed by your blossoming relations with the world’s new economic giants, India and China, well illustrated by this weekend’s visit of the President of China to Ballard Power Systems, and by Westport Innovations’ increasing involvement in China.
Yes, everything seems to take on a larger magnitude in British Columbia, like your determination in pursuing, at the same time, economic growth and environmental sustainability. Obviously, you share our Prime Minister’s vision: Project Green for a sustainable, competitive economy, a prosperous Canada.
We all want to achieve this goal. But as a country, where do we rank in the global sustainable economy compared to other nations? What are we doing to build on our achievements? These are the two questions that I will address with you.
1. Ranking Canada’s sustainability
Canadians have every reason to be puzzled when faced with the release of comparative studies that periodically assess our environmental performance. Some rank us at a very high level, others at a very poor one. So, are we good or are we bad?
I believe that these studies, however contradictory they may seem, provide useful basis for comparison, as long as they are well interpreted. The same can be said of the reports produced by the Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development, which offer useful information to improve our environmental policies.
Table 1 shows Canada’s ranking against thirty OECD countries plus Russia, using eight recent international indicators. Indeed, our ranking varies from second to twenty-eighth.
The explanation of this discrepancy is that Canada ranks well in most measurements when we look at the state of the environment (such as water quality), but rather poorly in measurements of environmental pressures (such as water consumption per person). So, an overall comparison of these indicators shows that Canada’s ranking depends significantly on how much relative weight is given to “state of the environment” versus “environmental pressures” measurements.
This distinction explains the significant variation between Canada’s ranking in the first six indices (on the left side) and the last two of Table 1. The last two indices are heavily weighted towards per capita measurements of environmental pressures, so Canada ranks lower on the comparative scale. The first six focus more on the state of the environment, so Canada ranks higher.
“State of the environment” rankings measure the condition of air, water, land and life forms. Compared to situations elsewhere in the world, most assessments indicate that Canada’s environment is in very good condition. Rankings based on “environmental pressures” measure the effects of human activities that can be harmful to the environment, or to humans through the environment. For example, polluting emissions and certain types of land use are environmental pressures. From this perspective, we are rarely among the best performers.
Table 2 gives a clear picture of our ups and downs in determining how Canada ranks in both global and OECD contexts. Our air quality is relatively good but our air emissions performance puts us in the mid-range of OECD countries. Our water’s quality is among the best in the world, but our water withdrawals per person are one of the largest. Regarding the issue of climate change, we are among the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide. Our waste management is below the average in the OECD.
To summarize, the state of our environment is good but we are imposing significant pressures on it. The fact is that Canada has a small population in a vast and well endowed country (in terms of natural resources, such as freshwater) compared to situations in other countries. However, on a per-person basis, Canada’s environmental pressures are among the greatest, particularly with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. And this is of course explained by the fact that since we have so many natural resources, we have not been as efficient in their use as other industrialized countries that do not enjoy the same richness of natural capital that we do.
I would argue that in this new industrial revolution in which we find ourselves, it is imperative that we improve our performance regarding environmental pressures, in order to enhance our quality of life and our economic competitiveness. We need to become a more efficient economy, a greener society.
And I am sure that the Vancouver Board of trade shares this view. You know full well that the future of our forest industry, our fisheries and our agriculture depend more than ever on their careful, sustainable utilization; that the vitality of our tourist industry is closely linked to the state of our parks, marine areas and wildlife; that air quality and water quality strongly influence the attractiveness of our cities, the health of our population, the cost of our health care system, the quality of life of our citizens and the productivity of our workers. You know that the issues related to adapting to climate change and limiting greenhouse gas emissions will be significant forces shaping global and national economies for the foreseeable future.
For our quality of life and our economic competitiveness, as well as our natural environment, we need to increase our resource productivity to become more efficient in the use of natural resources, especially energy.
Indeed, in the global economy, resource productivity will become increasingly important as global resource demands and energy costs increase rapidly with an anticipated 50 percent population growth and 400 percent economic growth by 2055. For business and industry around the globe, higher energy prices are requiring them to examine the costs and efficiency of their energy use more than ever. Business and industry must now strive for world class performance in their energy efficiency just as they do in terms of productivity, skills, and research and development.
In a word, we need an economy that does more with less. More productivity, less waste: we need to make sure that our economic strategy and our environmental policy will point in the same direction. We need Project Green.
2. Project Green: Increasing our environmental performance
Over the last year, Prime Minister Martin has given unprecedented momentum to Canada’s environmental policy. The Speech from the Throne included thirteen commitments on clean air and water, energy, climate change and the preservation of our natural capital, which became the basis for Project Green. Last February, our Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale gave Canada its greenest budget since Confederation. In April, the government of Canada released a comprehensive plan for honouring our Kyoto commitments. Our environmental agenda is going ahead on all fronts.
On clean air, we are moving ahead with our Ten Year Clean Air Agenda laid out in 2000, in order to minimize pollution, reduce transportation sector emissions, lower emissions from major industrial sources, improve pollutant reporting by industry, advance clean air science, and engage the public in finding solutions to clean air issues.
Taken together, Canada and the United States already have the strictest vehicle engine and fuel regulations in the world for air pollutants. And the Government has an agenda to further reduce harmful emissions from vehicles, engines and fuels and to improve air quality. Reducing sulphur in fuel for rail locomotives, marine vessels, and off-road construction and mining equipment is an important element of that plan. I know that this is an important environmental and health issue for you here in British Columbia.
One of the key elements of our Clean Air Agenda is a strict regulatory action plan. These regulations will reduce smog forming emissions from new vehicles by 90 percent by 2010 compared with levels in 2000.
Earlier this year, I introduced for public comment, draft regulations that will reduce sulphur in diesel fuel by about 99 percent from present levels by the year 2010 for off-road equipment and by 2012 for rail and marine use. The resulting health benefits to Canadians will include fewer deaths, hospital admissions and days when people experience symptoms of asthma. I expect the final regulatory package to be in place in October.
Our transportation regulatory plan will also ensure that starting in 2007, bus standards will require a reduction of 85 percent from current allowable levels of emissions of NOX and 95 percent for particulate matter levels.
Many of the sources of air pollution and smog fall within provincial jurisdiction. The Federal Government is working very closely with the provinces and territories to implement Canada-wide standards for particulate matter and ozone, the two main precursors to smog. The federal, provincial and territorial governments are also finalizing Canada-wide standards to substantially reduce mercury emissions from the coal-fired electric power generation sector by 2010. The goal is to capture over 60 percent of the mercury released by coal combustion.
In August 2004, together with my counterpart at the US Environmental Protection Agency, I made a commitment to consider negotiating a particulate matter annex to the Canada-US Air Quality Agreement to bring about reductions in both countries. We have completed the background science and are moving forward to make a decision on when negotiations on an annex could begin.
Air quality is a significant concern for the six million residents of the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound transboundary region. So I am pleased to point out that a second joint study under the Canada/United States Air Quality Pilot Project, addressing air quality in this region, was released on July 29.
This study documents the international airshed strategy and initiatives that my Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will implement in collaboration with the Province of British Columbia, the State of Washington and many regional and local government agencies to reduce the effects of air pollution on human health and ecosystems in this region.
We are also working with the U.S. Government to address air emissions from marine vessels and port activities – another concern for the region’s residents.
Finally, we are collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop marine emission reduction strategies that will address emissions not only in the Georgia Basin – Puget Sound area, but also in other marine areas in our countries.
This year’s budget will help us tremendously. It allocates $50 million over two years in support of the Border Air Quality Strategy for the Canada-US Air Quality Initiative, $90 million over five years to accelerate health risk assessments and research on the effects of potentially harmful substances. Our Climate Change Plan, which I will speak about later, will also help improve the quality of our air.
Another very significant budget measure for clean air is the transfer to municipalities of $5 billion of gas tax revenue. This transfer, added to the $800 million from Bill C-48, will support environmentally-sustainable infrastructure projects such as public transit, and will help to purify the air of our cities. It will also help to fund water and wastewater treatment, community energy systems and the handling of solid waste. Added to the additional $300 million the budget invested in the Green Municipal Funds, this New Deal for Cities and Communities is itself a green plan that will improve our quality of life and make our cities and communities more attractive, competitive and prosperous.
Our agenda for water is also substantial, with the five year Water Management Strategy to improve water and wastewater services for First Nation reserve communities; the $28 million that the last Budget devoted to the first phase of the government’s Oceans Action Plan; the $85 million strategy to combat the proliferation of invasive alien species that eat between $13 billion and $34 billion per year out of our economy; and the Canada-wide management strategy for municipal wastewater effluents that the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment have agreed to develop by December 2006.
Last December, Environment Canada published two instruments for the management of risks relating to discharges of municipal wastewater, namely guidelines for ammonia and the preparation of pollution prevention plans for chlorine.
With respect to air and water quality results, we do have some good news. For example, in the chemical sector, annual releases of toxic substances have been reduced by two-thirds since 1992, down to 1,100 tonnes from 3,400 tonnes. Building on our success, we will have classified 23,000 readily available chemical products by September 2006. Canada will be the first country to be able to avail itself of such a systematic analysis to improve its regulatory regime.
As well, emissions of mercury, lead, cadmium and dioxins and furans have each dropped between 65 to 75 percent from 1990 to 2003.
As for better protecting our natural assets, I will mention especially the $269 million that the last budget allocated in additional, much-needed funds to our National Parks. This is good news for the preservation of our natural environment, and good news for our economy. Our National Parks are not only a magnificent part of Canada’s heritage, they also contribute $1.2 billion to Canada’s GDP - the equivalent of 38,000 full time jobs - and are an essential source of revenue for our tourist industry for many of our communities and for Canada’s aboriginal people.
Further to this additional funding for parks, I was pleased to announce this year's extension of the ongoing Habitat Stewardship Program and today I am just as pleased to make another announcement: Parks Canada has completed various projects totalling $1.6 million, including new visitors facilities at Combers Beach and new exhibits at Wickaninnish Interpretative Centre, both in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada.
The Government of Canada also recognizes that the forests and ecosystems in your province, one of the most beautiful natural assets of our country, also require serious action. The mountain pine beetle epidemic is taking its toll and there are serious long-term ecological and economic consequences if no action is taken. Earlier this year, the Government of Canada announced an additional $100 million in funding as a further step to the program announced in 2002 to fight this plague. We are currently working with the Province of BC on our next steps – the development of a comprehensive strategy that will provide a long term solution to this crisis.
This government takes the protection of our marine ecosystems very seriously and could not accept that over 500,000 birds are killed by oil deposited into the marine environment in Canadian waters each year. It is for this reason that the government recently passed Bill C-15, an Act to amend the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The Act, which came into force this past June, substantially enhances our ability to deal with this problem by extending our enforcement regime to the outward edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Through the Oceans Action Plan, we have announced measures to establish marine protected areas on all three coasts including, of course, here in BC. We will continue to work with provincial governments to expand this network of marine protected areas to protect key elements of the marine ecosystem.
But nature conservation is not just about marine protected areas. We must protect and conserve our wildlife, too. With that in mind, last June the Government brought into force the Species at Risk Act. Since the Act came into force, close to 100 species of plants and animals have been added the list of species protected by the Act. It is not good news that we have more species at risk of extinction in Canada. But the Government is determined to do its part in protecting and working with the provinces to recover them before they disappear.
A “conservation first” approach will be used to guide any decisions involving the moratorium on offshore exploration and drilling. We have asked our American neighbours and friends to adopt the same “conservation first” approach and not drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But we all know that prevention is invariably a wiser course that the react and prevent approach. With that in mind, the Mexican Minister of the Environment, the US Secretary of the Interior and I recently signed a landmark collaborative agreement to conserve and protect the migratory birds the three countries share. Last month I met with Secretary Norton in Washington to discuss how to expand this concept to the hemispheric level and we agreed to raise the issue with Ministers of the Environment of the Americas at their next meeting.
Regarding federal contaminated sites, we have a solid Action Plan whose goal is to complete, within 15 years, the assessment, remediation and risk management of all of the estimated 6000 federal contaminated sites. When we reach this goal, we will have changed liabilities into assets. In doing so, remediation will create new economic opportunities for affected communities, new jobs in the environmental industry, and new innovative technologies.
In Budget 2004, the federal government took important steps to ensure our own house is in order by committing $3.5 billion to cleaning up federally-owned contaminated sites. For this fiscal year, 2005-2006, the federal government has committed an additional $138.7 million to deal with the 97 highest risk sites identified under the Action Plan.
Although the 97 priority sites identified for 2005-06 are located in all regions of the country, 38 of them are located right here in British Columbia and an additional 30 across the three territories in the North. And indeed, our overall Strategy for the North, as well as our investments on the occasion of the International Polar Year, will sharply focus on the sustainable development of our three Territories and the preservation of the North’s fragile ecosystem, which is so affected by the negative impacts of climate change.
Speaking of climate change, the Government of Canada is currently implementing a number of major initiatives to get Canada’s Climate Change Plan up and running on the ground. Over the course of the summer, a clear description of the proposed Large Final Emitters system was published. Draft regulations setting out the key elements of this system are planned for release before the end of this year. On September 3, the proposed addition of the six greenhouse gases to Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act was published in the Canada Gazette Part 1. This is an important and necessary step in the development of regulations that will cover large industries that are being required to meet the 45 megatonne reduction target set out in Canada’s Climate Change Plan.
In August, we released a proposed set of rules for an offset credit system. This system will award credits to large and small industries, technology companies, municipalities, farmers, foresters, and individual Canadians who achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions. The system will also create a market allowing these individuals, industries and organizations to sell their credits, which is an efficient way to get the maximum emissions reductions at the lowest cost. Cross-country consultations on this proposed set of rules are taking place this fall.
We are working hard to ensure that the Climate Fund will start operations beginning next year. Acting as a sort of investment bank, it will purchase reductions in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from tangible projects. For Canadians, opportunities will be available in all sectors of the economy.
Examples of who could benefit from this fund include: forestry companies that engage in state-of-the-art forest management practices; farmers who adopt low-till practices; property developers who include district heating and renewable energy elements in their plans for new sub-divisions; businesses that develop innovative ways to reduce emissions through recycling and energy efficiency; companies and municipalities that invest in their communities to encourage alternative transportation modes; municipalities that capture landfill gas and use it to generate electricity; or courier companies that retrofit their fleets.
I am convinced that this market-based approach will be critical to integrating climate change considerations into the day-to-day decisions of Canada’s citizens and businesses, and unleashing the power of innovation for the good of our environment and our economy.
Our businesses will benefit from this opportunity to develop their expertise in the fields of environmental technologies and services and to deploy them around the world. B.C. businesses especially will be well placed to seize the opportunity created by our Climate Change Plan to win new market shares in emerging economies and economies in transition, such as China. The reductions of greenhouse gas emissions that Canada will make abroad will help us to honour our Kyoto commitment.
Consultations have also begun with the provinces and territories to identify strategic new technologies (such as fuel cell buses) and infrastructure projects for cost sharing through the Partnership Fund. I was just talking about this yesterday with my B.C. counterpart, Barry Penner. The first projects under the Fund are expected to be announced before the end of 2005.
If we add to all this our initiative for renewable energies, our targeted programs and fiscal incentives for environmental technologies and the transportation sector, our home retrofit incentives, our purchasing strategy for a greener government, our outreach strategies to involve Canadians, one can see how much our Climate Change Plan is, at the same time, a business strategy for Canada that will generate beneficial investments across the economy.
But since Canada is responsible for only two percent of the human-made greenhouse gas emissions, its effectiveness in reducing emissions will depend on the effectiveness of the international regime. This is precisely why, as the Government of Canada moves forward on implementing our Climate Change Plan, it is also preparing to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, November 28-December 9, 2005. Our goal will be twofold: improving the functioning of the current Kyoto mechanisms, and convincing the nations of the world of the need to find new ways to increase international cooperation on this issue over the coming years.
Convincing the world nations to increase international cooperation is an ambitious task, considering the opposing views about the form this cooperation should take. Inspired by the leadership of our Prime Minister, we are sparing no effort in preparing this important Conference with conviction and determination. Canada will need a strong B.C. presence in Montreal, so please show up in force. Bienvenue à Montréal!
As you see, our agendas for air, water, nature, contaminated sites and climate change will provide enormous benefits, especially when measured against the considerable costs of inaction. But these sound policies will only yield their full potential if they are linked by an improved decision making process, a framework for competitiveness and environmental sustainability.
To this end, the Prime Minister announced in the last Throne Speech that, from now on, “the Government will work with its partners to build sustainable development systematically into decision making.” The Prime Minister created the Ad Hoc Committee of Cabinet on Sustainability and the Environment and appointed as its Chair the astute BC businessman, David Emerson. Our Liberal Caucus mirrored this initiative with the Liberal Caucus Economic and Sustainability Policy Committee.
For some time, we have been working with the provinces and territories to renew and improve how we deal with shared environmental priorities. Our work is now solidifying in the form of an agreement that will strengthen our collective and respective capacities to address our shared environmental challenges.
Our government will also consolidate the federal environmental assessment process in order to make it more timely, responsive and effective. Finally, for a better consultation process with the industry and the ENGOs, we are putting in place Sector Sustainability Tables, beginning with the areas of chemicals, forestry, mining and energy. This measure will create more cohesion and certainty in the way we carry out environmental management in Canada.
Conclusion
Yes, British Columbia and our country as a whole need Project Green, this broad environmental vision that links Canada’s economic competitiveness and prosperity to a sustainable future. The policies and programs under Project Green address environmental challenges for the 21st century.
Project Green: a far-reaching set of measures to improve our energy efficiency and our waste management practices, improve the environmental performance of our industrial sectors, conserve our biodiversity, protect our water, clean up contaminated sites, ensure cleaner and healthier air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through Project Green, which we will continue to deploy and expand in the coming years, Canada can set an international example by developing effective, model solutions for the long-term health of the planet.
We need to become a world leader in environmental technologies, in energy efficiency, in resource productivity and in conservation. We have been a champion of all the previous Industrial Revolutions, from the invention of the steam engine to the knowledge economy. We will not miss the new industrial revolution, the one of the sustainable economy. All of us - governments, industry, NGOs, citizens - need to work harder for a greener Canada. We owe this to ourselves, our children and the generations to come.
IGNATIEFF'S ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVEAddress to the Canadian Club of Calgary (May 12, 2006)
Michael Ignatieff
Address to the Canadian Club of Calgary
May 12th, 2006
It’s good to be back in Alberta.
I taught creative writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts for three years in the 1990’s. I
wrote a book in the library there. I love that institution, and I loved the Alberta that I explored with my kids.
The Banff School shows what a great national institution you can create when the federal
and provincial governments work together, when leaders like Peter Lougheed understand the central importance of investing in our best and brightest creators.
I loved Banff also because I heard – and spoke – French everywhere: on the paths through the Rocky Mountains and in the rehearsal halls of the Centre. Alberta attracts many Quebecers every year, but, we must not forget the Franco-Albertans who established roots here centuries ago. We must always remember that the first languages spoken in Alberta were Aboriginal, and then, French.
Yes, the West has a proud French tradition and always will.
My connections to Alberta go back to my favorite uncle. His name was Dima. He was 6
foot 6 and he homesteaded in the Peace River country in the early 30’s, then took his degree in soil science at the U of A and finally, as the Second World War approached, signed on with a great outfit—the Calgary Highlanders. He fought with them side by side from Salerno to Berlin. He taught me that Albertans were tough and resourceful. They were—and are -- good people to be with in a foxhole.
As you know, I’m a candidate for the leadership of the party that does its best to keep
elections competitive in this province. I’m sure Albertans are going to tire of single party rule. They want a choice, and I want to salute those hardy souls, the Alberta Liberals who
courageously present Albertans with that choice.
I do believe we can be competitive in this province. Stranger things have happened.
If Stephen Harper can be competitive in Quebec, why can’t Michael Ignatieff be
competitive in Alberta?
When parties have a monopoly, they get arrogant. They get lazy. They stop listening. The fact that Conservatives have a monopoly in this province is a challenge for Liberals. But I also believe it’s an opportunity.
Look at what Anne McLellan did for the province. If you’re the sole Liberal, you have to
deliver, and she delivered: incentives for the gas sector, assistance for multicultural communities, funding for the arts and museums. Anne proved that Liberals can work twice as hard for Alberta.
My party does need to work twice as hard in Alberta. We don’t deserve to call ourselves
a national institution unless we win back seats in this province.
We can’t win unless we listen up.
Our party needs to understand the mistakes we’ve made in the past.
Too often we have appeared to work against Alberta’s energy sector, when we need to
work with it as a partner.
Too often we’ve appeared to want to punish Alberta for its success, when we need to
work together to make Alberta—and Canada—more successful still.
Too often, we’ve appeared to be hostile to the qualities that Albertans love:
entrepreneurship, freedom to take risks, and the freedom that comes from taking responsibility for yourself and your family.
The Liberalism I believe in values freedom balanced with responsibility wants to invest in
risk-taking and seeks to reward entrepreneurship.
I spent 16 years as a free-lance writer, broadcaster and war correspondent. I know what it
is like to gamble, to take risks, to live without a safety net and to reap the rewards that come when you bet the store on a good idea.
Today I want to set out my ideas for Alberta’s place in the federation.
When I taught out at UBC in Vancouver, I learned you can’t think of running Canada
from Ottawa—or Toronto, for that matter.
The goal of federal policy should be a strong federation.
A strong federation means a clear division of labour between orders of government;
provinces doing their jobs, Ottawa doing its job: defense, foreign affairs, the promotion of a national economic space, and the preservation of what I have called a spine of equal citizenship from coast to coast to coast.
The essential purpose of federal authority is to work with the provinces to guarantee that
all Canadians have equal rights, equal responsibilities, equal opportunities, and roughly equal services. Without that spine of citizenship, and the sense of belonging that goes with it, Canada wouldn’t be Canada: it would just be a string of provinces strung out along the 49th parallel.
Health care belongs to that spine of citizenship. Albertans, like all Canadians, believe that
Canadian citizenship implies equal access to quality health care paid for out of general taxation. Yet each province is bound to experiment about how to best balance the imperatives of equal access and cost control. The federal government can’t enforce equality with a big stick, certainly not against Alberta. The right role for the federal government is to be a clearing house of best practice helping provinces to share information on how to deliver quality care while containing costs, helping provinces to improve connectivity between their health information systems, so that we get better at measuring what actually works, helping provinces to ensure genuine portability of benefits for all Canadians.
Equality of citizenship is a value that Albertans believe in, whether it means Canada
pensions for our seniors, child benefit for families with children, the panoply of policies that seek to equalize opportunity for all Canadians. Albertans also want to keep faith with the constitutional commitment to equalization between Canada’s regions. The problem is: nobody agrees what we are equalizing: what should count in measuring the fiscal capacity of the provinces. And nobody wants to penalize provinces—whether in Atlantic Canada or in Alberta— for their success in securing revenues from non-renewable resources. So we need a conversation—patient, detailed and honest —about how to re-invent our fiscal relationship — that is transparent and makes sense—to Canadians.
These are the elements of a strong federation: a spine of common citizenship, a federal
government that focuses on what is truly national and provinces that focus on what is truly
provincial.
A strong federation means a strong Alberta, an Alberta that leads Canada where we want
it to go.
One obvious place for working together is in the environment.
Albertans, like all Canadians, share a deep concern for the environment, and are uneasily
aware that we haven’t done all that we could.
We don’t need to have Chicken Little policies. We shouldn’t make public policy by going
around shouting "The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling!”
Still, the facts about global climate change are increasingly clear, and what is also clear is
that Albertans, like Canadians, are seeking leadership to make the necessary choices.
These are not choices which require us—as the Conservatives appear to think—to
sacrifice our economy on the altar of environmental political correctness. The choice is to seize the economic opportunities that emerge when we display environmental leadership.
Albertans don’t just want to have the world’s most profitable oil and natural gas
industries. You want a sector that protects our climate by reducing carbon emissions, that protects our air quality, that preserves precious fresh water and creates jobs right here in Alberta and across the country.
You know that sustainability is the key to maintaining energy leadership. Proven reserves
won’t last forever. Sustaining Alberta’s wealth depends on building environmental and resource sustainability into your growth.
Albertans are already leading in environmental research. The Canada School of
Sustainable Energy is an initiative of three Alberta universities.
One of Canada’s national treasures—David Schindler—has developed his world-leading
environmental thinking at the U of A.
The Pembina Institute has done pioneering work on the challenges that Alberta faces in
making wise use of water. Their reports show that the tar sands consume more water than
Calgary’s population every year. The balance between industry, farming and domestic use is becoming harder to maintain.
Moreover, few provinces face greater potential challenges from global warming. Anyone
with a historical memory does not want southern Alberta to become a dust bowl again.
The environmental challenge is one that Albertans and Canadians must work together to
solve.
Let’s set ourselves the goal of becoming world leaders, using smart federal policy,
imaginative science from our best universities, good public policy at the provincial level and leadership from our energy sector to become the smartest and most sustainable energy giant in the world. Working together, Alberta can become the international hub of expertise and application in clean energy systems.
The federal government has used fiscal incentives to stimulate the development and
exploration phase of the Alberta energy boom. The next challenge is to work with the energy sector and the Alberta government to align our fiscal incentives so that we promote CO2 sequestration, so that we offer incentives to less wasteful use of water in the tar sands, and we encourage technological innovation and new market opportunities. Let’s work with the industry to set escalating targets for reducing CO2 emissions.
We need to develop together a carbon management standard; so that the fossil fuel
industry takes responsibility for the fate of the carbon it extracts and stops releasing it into the atmosphere. This would require some regulation by government, but with maximum flexibility as to how emission targets would be realized. An emissions market should be created to allow carbon emitting industries to trade among themselves and form consortia to achieve aggregate limits as cheaply as possible.
Let’s use all the tools of government—fiscal incentives, grants, at the provincial and federal level to encourage renewable energy generation, zero-emission vehicles, and clean coal. This is another area where Alberta is a leader.
If Alberta and Canada can work together with industry to get clean coal to market
quickly, this will give us a large competitive advantage in China, where coal is bound to remain the key to meeting China’s energy needs in this century.
While we’re at it, why can’t Alberta and Canada work together to get biofuels to market
more rapidly? Biofuels holds huge promise: let’s seize these opportunities together so that the farm sector of our economy can contribute to environmental sustainability.
Reducing CO2 emissions in our energy sector;
Efficient economizing of industrial, farming and domestic use of water;
Rapid commercialization and expansion of the biofuels markets;
Rapid development of clean coal technology;
Here are four projects where if we combine smart regulation, the right fiscal incentives
and co-operation between the private and public sectors Alberta—and Canada—can lead the
world.
A huge opportunity must not be missed: to move our energy industry up the value chain
where environmental sustainability and new market opportunity meet.
Environmental policy works best when we’re all in it together: this is where the federal
government can help provinces get us all on the same environmental page, so that no province is singled out, all Canadians work together so that we achieve common goals: an economy that wastes less energy, that gets more kilometers per litre of gasoline, more efficient electricity use, more diverse array of energy sources.
Of course, Alberta doesn’t need the Feds in order to show leadership. Just recently,
Alberta and BC signed an agreement, reducing barriers to mobility of workers, investment and goods between the two provinces. This is interprovincial collaboration at its best—indeed the federation working as it should. But the federal government can help, by investing in infrastructure like the Trans Canada Highway and the Pacific Gateway enhancement of the Ports in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Already Calgary accounts for a substantial volume of the imports and exports flowing through the BC ports, and the federal government should invest in the national infrastructure to make this flow-through more efficient.
I’ve spent some time outside my country—and that seems to me to be an advantage, not a
liability. What I see from the outside is that we are a tremendous success and that we are enviably placed to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We are really capable of global leadership, if we have leaders who set global targets, who ask not: is this at Canada standard, but is this at world standard?
The targets I’m setting us are to be world leaders in sustainable energy development. We
must understand that we are stewards of the world commons, the climate and our biosphere, and global leadership means understanding this responsibility, and refusing false polarities that say we must either serve green goals or sacrifice our standard of living. Leadership means finding balanced solutions that move us steadily out of the raw export of energy to high value energy products that set the world standard for environmental sustainability
But it’s not enough to set targets for world class leadership. It’s also vital for us to put our
quarrels behind us. The world’s question about Canada is why we waste so much time in federal- provincial disputes, why regions fight each other, why mutual suspicion and paranoia so often frustrate our capacity for global leadership. Let’s put this behind us. Let’s work together. Alberta is quite simply one of the most exciting and dynamic places in the federation. Now is the time for Alberta to lead Canada to the forefront of environmental success. Private and public, federal, provincial and municipal: let’s work together to be world leaders.
