2002/03

Notes for Remarks by

The Honourable Ralph Goodale, PC, MP

Minister of Natural Resources Canada
Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board
Federal Interlocutor for the Métis and Non-Status Indians
Chair of the Cabinet Committee for the Economic Union


Launch of "Climate Change Saskatchewan" Hub

University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
January 8, 2002

Check against delivery

Mr. Chairman. Ministers Thompson and Belanger. President Barnard. Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls — especially the choir from Connaught Community School. Good morning and welcome.

We are here today to launch another partnership between the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan with the University of Regina and the people of Saskatchewan — a partnership aimed at the daunting global problem of climate change.

"Climate Change Saskatchewan," as it's called, will be a multi-stakeholder hub of information and activity:

• to build greater awareness and understanding in Saskatchewan about what climate change is and how it will affect our environment, our economy and our quality of life; and
• to motivate informed action to head off the worst consequences of climate change, and to adapt to those consequences which cannot be avoided.

The Government of Canada is supporting this initiative with a federal contribution of $80,000. And this Saskatchewan "hub" is now part of a growing national network of such centres — up and running in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Alberta, with more to come to stretch from coast to coast.

Their common goal is to better inform and engage all Canadians in the climate change issue in meaningful ways that are directly relevant to the regions in which each local hub is located.

The Climate Change problem is very real. Human activity around the world — most especially our production and consumption of fossil fuels — is contributing to a significant buildup of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) in our global atmosphere. And that is causing our most familiar patterns of weather and climate to change in some very fundamental ways.

Permafrost is melting in the Arctic. There was a blizzard yesterday in Damascus in the Syrian desert.

Here on the Prairies, we are seeing more extremes of high and low temperatures--12^o above in January in Moose Jaw. More severe storm systems. More floods in some areas. More droughts in others. Seasonal conditions seem out of sync with what we're used to.

All this raises some serious questions. Will our major agricultural production zone gradually shift northward? What will this mean for crops, livestock, communities and businesses? How will it affect our water supply? Our ecosystems, wildlife, forests and habitat? What are the implications for human health?

To grapple with these issues, we'll need two key things — the very best knowledge that we can accumulate and disseminate, and a great deal of cooperation and teamwork to make the best use of that knowledge.

That's what "Climate Change Saskatchewan" is all about. Housed at the University of Regina, it will focus especially on rural and agricultural issues, and it will develop educational programs designed for specific stakeholder groups, the general public and for our school systems. Its links to all the other climate change hubs across the country will provide seamless access to all the best available information, best practices and new ideas.

Because greenhouse gas accumulations and climate change are so intimately connected to the ways in which we produce and consume energy — and because ours is one of the most energy-intensive economies in the world — the Government of Canada Action Plan on Climate Change zeroes in on:

• energy conservation;
• energy efficiency;
• renewable and alternative sources of energy; and
• next-generation technologies to generate cleaner forms of energy and to extract associated greenhouse gases from our atmosphere.

To this end, over the past two years, we have committed more than $1.5 billion to common-sense Canadian action. Of particular interest to Saskatchewan, our most recent federal funding will support:

• a quadrupling of Canadian production and use of ethanol as a "green" transportation fuel;
• a five-fold increase in Canadian wind-power generation;
• Model Research Farms to advance practical emissions reduction techniques in agriculture; and
• the planting of more farm shelterbelts.

The Climate Change Saskatchewan Hub will help point the way to other future initiatives. Its location here at the University of Regina is particularly important, given the strong cluster of environmental and energy expertise that is growing here.

The Petroleum Technology Research Centre. The International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture. The Prairie Climate Change Adaptation Research Cooperative. And the new Greenhouse Gas Technology Centre.

I am pleased that the Government of Canada has helped to plant these "seeds of knowledge" at the University of Regina. As they grow, mature and come to harvest, they will help our country achieve both its environmental and economic ambitions. And they will position Regina as a unique centre of cutting-edge intelligence in the knowledge-based, highly skilled and technology-driven "new global economy" of the 21^st century.

I believe we, in Saskatchewan, all too frequently under value and under estimate what we are capable of contributing to that new economy.

Take, for example, the ground-breaking research that's being undertaken right now in the PanCanadian oilpatch at Weyburn, under the auspices of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre and with the backing of the International Energy Agency in Paris and the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington. This carbon sequestration project is world-class, with global implications. But how many of us right here at home take pride in what we're doing — or even know that it's going on?

We need to celebrate our own homegrown brainpower. And another thing. Through the Climate Change Saskatchewan Hub, we need to reach out to every Saskatchewan citizen to make sure they know that what they do, the smart choices they can make — every day — at home, at work and on the road, can make a big difference in the climate change challenge.

We've already built useful partnerships with the City of Regina, the Saskatchewan Science Centre, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, and many others — to get the word out and to make it tangible.

Dealing with climate change is a classic case of where we all need to "think globally" and "act locally."

This new Climate Change Saskatchewan Hub will help us do more.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I want to thank all our partners for their participation — and their commitment to a cleaner and greener future.

Thank you.