Ottawa, ON
April 25, 2007

Well, good morning. And thank you very much, Micheline [Micheline Dubé, CEO, National Capital Commission]. I'd also like to thank the National Capital Commission for hosting this event this morning.  And Harry Taylor [Senior Vice-President, Operations, Home Depot Canada].  Harry, it's great that you could join us.

I know you've put a lot of work into this. So, we're pleased you're here.  And I know a lot of you here are waiting with bated breath for my colleague Minister Baird who has got some very enlightening words to share with you. But you'll have to wait just a few more minutes for that.  He's been working a lot of time on this.

I also want to compliment Harry and the work that his retailers and Home Depot and others across the country have been doing in promoting our ecoENERGY Retrofit Initiative.  It's great to see the efforts that the retailers are making in helping promote this initiative. Of course, we think this is one of the best ways we're going to get results.

They're giving Canadians the information and the tools that they need to make smart choices when it comes to the environment. There's a strong sense of corporate responsibility in the industry and Home Depot is definitely a leader in building a more energy-efficient country.  You may not be aware of it, but Home Depot was Canada's ENERGY STAR Retailer of the Year last year.  Its ecoOptions program has just been adopted by Home Depot stores in the United States. So great job, Harry – we're really seeing results.

Now when it comes to the environment, leadership is what it's all about. In Budget 2007, we are investing over $4.5 billion to clean up our air and our water and to reduce greenhouse gases. With initiatives like ecoENERGY Retrofit and ecoAUTO Program, we're giving Canadians the encouragement and incentives they need to make their buildings, homes and vehicles more efficient. We're moving to regulate vehicle fuel efficiency with our clean air regulatory agenda, and we're also regulating efficiency for a whole new range of products — everything from ceiling fans all the way to commercial boilers.  This is part of our Government's commitment to make Canada a global leader in energy efficiency.

Now, I'm very pleased to announce today that Canada is stepping up once again and introducing national standards for energy efficiency in lighting. We have regulated the efficiency of lighting products for a number of years, but today we're making a commitment to set performance standards overall. These new regulations will be in place by the end of this year. Within five years, all of those inefficient light bulbs – they're going to be gone.

Starting today, we'll work with lighting manufacturers, and our trading partners and our partners in the provinces and territories to develop these standards. We must have strong national standards to support provinces and territories that are making their own moves on banning inefficient lighting.

The environmental benefits are absolutely clear.  By banning inefficient lighting, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by more than six million tonnes each and every year. How much is that? For the individual homeowner, they could realize savings of over $50 annually in their electricity bills. When you look at the net-value of the cost of the bulbs, this could generate over $330 in savings. If you look right across the country, these savings could amount to the equivalent of savings somewhere in the tune of three to four thousand megawatts of energy.  How much is that?  That's the equivalent of somewhere between six or seven coal-fired generation units. It's about the same amount of North America's largest polluter, Nanticoke. I believe Nanticoke has eight units online and so you can do the math.  It's a significant reduction of not only greenhouse gases but smog as well.

So if you multiply that by the number of households across the country, we're literally talking somewhere in the magnitude of three to four billion dollars that could be saved by Canadians over the lifetime of these energy-efficient bulbs.

Now just for the record, people ask why do this to the type of lighting we see all around us, you know, with incandescent bulbs. Well, an incandescent bulb is generally,depending on the quality of the bulb, somewhere between five and maybe 10 percent light and the rest is heat.  Compact fluorescents use a fraction of that.  You know, they can be 20 or 30 percent emitting light. So you can see where the savings are – in the range three to four times as efficient as incandescent bulbs.

But there are new technologies coming on stream, and that's why we're actually regulating the efficiency standards. There are companies out there that are actually developing very efficient incandescent bulbs.  There's a company that's here today in fact.  I should recognize Stephen Naor [CEO, Group IV Semiconductor] from Group IV Semiconductor.  I'm not sure where Stephen's standing. There he is. He's standing over here.  Stephen's doing some research on solid state lighting that would be even more dramatically efficient than compact fluorescents.

You look at the amount of energy we use right across North America in lighting.  It is about five percent. So by implementing these types of standards the savings can be enormous.  We're encouraged to see the type of work that Steve and his group are doing at Group IV Semiconductor and our partners and our retailers.

I think this is without question the way of the future.  Let me conclude by saying that this is more than just about light bulbs. A light bulb is only the gateway to broad public engagement on energy efficiency and action on climate change. We have to go beyond the standards that we're announcing today. And our Government is committed to ensuring that new efficient technologies succeed. We have an abundance of clean energy and Canadians have the tools they need to make energy-efficient choices. Our ecoACTION agenda is all real action and real results helping Canadians to use less and live better.

Now I would just like to say that to succeed, it's important that we engage our retail partners, as well as the provinces and territories and government at large.  That's how we're making results. That's how we're delivering real action, and I'm so pleased to see everyone here.

I would now like to turn the podium over to my good friend and colleague, a man who needs no introduction to the people in the room, the Minister of Environment, the Honourable John Baird. John.