Statement made on 18 March 2010 by Senator James Cowan
Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, my question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Yesterday, in response to my question regarding the budget's lack of investment in renewable energy initiatives, she said that her government ". . . announced 19 proposals for demonstration projects, renewable and alternative energy technologies from all regions. Wind energy, of course, is included in that.''
However, the truth of the matter is that none of those 19 demonstration projects were for utility-scale renewable energy projects and, in fact, only amount to a total of $146 million. That is a far cry from the original $1.48 billion in the ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program designed to cover the production of 4,000-megawatts of low impact renewable energy.
As I pointed out yesterday, all the funds under that program have been allocated and the budget provided no new funding. I also pointed out that, in the meantime, the United States has invested, and continues to invest, 18 times more per capita in renewable energy than Canada.
In light of this reduction in renewable energy investments, the investments that we might all agree involve the jobs of the future, can the minister tell us why this government refuses to recognize, as many other countries have around the globe, that our nation's long-term economic recovery and competitiveness is contingent on investing in new green technology?
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