Tim Weis, Director of the Pembina Institute’s Renewable Energy and Efficiency Program, made the following statement in response to today’s federal budget:
“This deeply disappointing budget offers virtually nothing to create clean energy jobs or live up to our climate change commitments.
Today’s budget invests 14 times less, per capita, in renewable energy than President Obama’s proposal — making no improvement on last year’s ratio. As governments worldwide are making major investments in clean energy, Canada continues to fall even further behind.
Far from creating green jobs as the government claims, the budget will bring to an end all federal investment in renewable power, other than a token allocation to the forestry sector.
Minister Prentice's tough talk on the oilsands from a few weeks ago rings hollow in a budget that includes no resources for improved environmental management in the oilsands. Oilsands development is not mentioned a single time in the entire 451-page budget.
In addition to doing next to nothing to address climate change at home, this budget fails to live up to the government’s international commitments, which include providing our fair share of climate change financing for developing countries and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.”
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The Pembina Institute is a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank.
Contact:
Tim Weis
Director, Renewable Energy and Efficiency Policy
613-216-1976 x22
613-601-6519 (cell)
timw@pembina.org
Simon Dyer
Director, Oilsands
403-721-3937
403-322-3937 (cell)
simond@pembina.org
Pembina’s Blog: Read our analysis of the 2010 federal budget at www.pembina.org/blogs
Download the full text of the 2010 Federal Budget at
www.budget.gc.ca/2010/plan/toc-tdm-eng.html