OTTAWA,
ON — Tim Weis, director of renewable
energy and efficiency policy for the Pembina Institute, made the following
statement about today's federal budget:
"It's
encouraging to see the government continue the ecoENERGY home retrofit program for one more year,
since helping homeowners use less energy will reduce greenhouse gas pollution
and save Canadians money.
"In this budget, the government also provided crucial funding to support the development of
long-awaited climate and clean air regulations at Environment Canada.
"It
is disappointing, however, that this budget ignores opportunities to position Canada to
create jobs and compete effectively in the rapidly growing global clean energy
market.
"In addition to ongoing and targeted support — beyond a single year — for renewable energy and
efficiency, the federal government needs to put a price on greenhouse gas
pollution (or, at a minimum, impose strong regulations) to curb the growth of
greenhouse gas pollution from sectors such as the oilsands.
"Research
shows that supporting clean energy, increasing energy efficiency and implementing
comprehensive climate policies could create more jobs than continuing with
business as usual. From a government that prides itself on job creation and
sound economic management, it's unfortunate that Minister Flaherty's budget
speech failed to recognize the job-creation potential of carbon pricing and
other climate policies.
"The
government could have chosen today to kick-start Canada's clean energy transformation
by phasing out federal subsidies for oil companies, in line with a G20
commitment in 2009. While this budget includes a minor subsidy adjustment, it
leaves more than $1 billion in tax breaks for oil companies on the table. A
leaked memo from officials at the Department of Finance last year confirmed such
support is no longer necessary.
"The
budget is silent on Canada's 2011 contribution to supporting climate action in
poorer countries. Even if the government does announce this support later in
the year, its omission from today's budget likely means the funding would not
meet the crucial test of being new and additional to Canada's aid budget."
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Contact:
Tim Weis
Director, Renewable energy
and efficiency policy
Cell: 780-667-6519
Julia Kilpatrick
Media manager
Cell: 613-265-5579
Background:
The Pembina Institute
outlined its expectations for the federal budget in the blog post, "Budget
2011: A checklist for clean energy success".
