Check against delivery

Prime Minister, Mr. Britton, Mr. Rasul, ladies and gentlemen,

I’m proud to be here today to talk about the Government of Canada’s commitment to the Hydrogen Highway and to the next stage in its development.

For more than 20 years, the Government of Canada has supported the development of Canada’s hydrogen and fuel-cell industry – one that has found a world-recognized home here in British Columbia.

We’ve already seen a wide array of achievements in this industry. We’ve developed hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies. We’ve seen them put to work in many specific situations. And now it’s time to start building the hydrogen infrastructure to accelerate our results.

It’s time to put hydrogen on the road – by building the Hydrogen Highway.

The plan is simple. Making it possible for people to use innovative clean energy technologies - hydrogen and fuel cells – to get from Vancouver to Whistler along the Sea to Sky Highway. Ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to make that possible.

Using the Sea to Sky Highway as our focus couldn’t be a more appropriate choice. Because when it comes to the hydrogen economy of tomorrow, the sky is really the limit.

I know that the Prime Minister understands this very well.

In the last few years since I became Environment Minister, the Prime Minister and I have talked and done together a great deal on advancing our common environmental goals.

Prime Minister Martin knows that a healthy environment and a strong economy is what people whom we represent demand. It’s a quality of life issue.

He knows – as I do – that private sector, academic and non-governmental energy experts around the world are pointing to ideas like this as the future of energy. I’ve heard the same from leaders in countries like China that are thinking seriously about new paths for their energy futures.

The message from all of them is clear.

We’re on the cusp of a new energy era. Innovative clean-energy technologies, such as hydrogen and fuel cells, will be an increasingly important part of the growing global energy mix in the coming decades.

More than that, this new era of clean-energy technologies will help us respond to climate change, while developing those new economic opportunities. It will be an era that will dramatically reshape our society and our economy – for the better.

And Canada’s Hydrogen Highway in BC is where it will start as a daily reality for many people.

Projects like the Hydrogen Highway are the result of our investment in long-term research and development. And this project is another sign of Canada’s leadership in addressing climate change.

We’re promoting energy efficiency and related technologies. Asking Canadians to do their part through the One-Tonne Challenge. Working with industry to bring down their GHG emissions. We’re committed to reducing emissions in Government of Canada operations.

We all have a responsibility to do our share.

Here at Globe 2004, you’ll see a wide variety of Canadian companies that are putting clean-energy technologies on the market. They’re not necessarily involved in research, they’re in the business of developing markets.

And that’s a key shift. Creating the best technologies is just one side of the equation. Putting them to use in our daily lives is the other.

That’s why I am proud to announce, on behalf of the Minister of Natural Resources Canada, John Efford, that the Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance is investing almost $5 million in three additional projects.

The Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Project is a four-year demonstration initiative to test fuel cell vehicles here in the lower mainland. It will enable us to determine what improvements need to be made before bringing fuel cell vehicles to market.

In a second project, Purolator Courier will work with Hydrogenics Corporation to develop, introduce and test a fuel cell delivery vehicle at one of its depots in the Toronto area along with the hydrogen refuelling station it will need.

A third project will tackle the issue of on-board hydrogen storage. In it, Dynetek Industries will get support to develop a new hydrogen valve that will lead to longer vehicle ranges and reduced system costs.

I especially have to thank Firoz Rasul of Ballard Power Systems, for agreeing to chair the Steering Committee that is managing the Hydrogen Highway. I also want to thank the many other private and public sector partners involved in this project.
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He knows this will just be the start. I’m looking forward to the day not so far away when the ‘corridor of expertise’ that we’re building in BC around the Hydrogen Highway will link to similar projects in Alberta and in California.

When I say expertise, I mean it. Canada — and Vancouver in particular — is now world-renowned as a centre of excellence in fuel cell and hydrogen technology. You don’t have to look too far at Globe 2004 to see a wide variety of Canadian companies that are putting clean-energy technologies on the market.

They’re making the jump from research to developing commercial markets.

Canada is determined to be the place the international community comes to when looking for hydrogen and other environmental technologies – the place where we use them and demonstrate their benefits in real life.

And there is no better time to show them all off than the Winter Olympics in 2010.

The eyes of billions of people will turn to Vancouver and Whistler to see some of the finest athletes in the world. We give them even more than that, though.

We will make the 2010 Winter Games the smart plug for new ideas in environmental design and technology – new ideas from Canada. We will attract huge media and public attention to the ingenuity – the ecological ingenuity – that we will display at the Games.

That way, not only will Canada’s athletes be gold medallists – so will our hydrogen technologies.

The Hydrogen Highway will be the road that carries them both to international glory.

Thank you.