September 13, 2007
Okotoks, Alberta

Thanks very much, Ted.

I am so glad to be here today to tour this remarkable community.

I know you've heard it before, but I think it's worth repeating: this community of Drake Landing is the very first of its kind in North America.

Projects like this just don't pop up out of the blue. The seed was planted almost 30 years ago by one of Canada's first solar pioneers.

Frank Hooper, retired professor from the University of Toronto, is here with us today. Mr.Hooper, who first proposed the concept of solar seasonal storage in Canada, conducted research in the late '70s and 1980s.

Back then, Mr. Hooper had two young engineers helping him. They're also here today.

Doug McClenahan is now managing the solar R&D program with Natural Resources Canada's CanMet Energy Technology Centre. Doug initiated this project.

Alfred Brunger ("brun-jer") is now managing Canada's National Solar Test Facility. Alfred was a part of the design review team and performed the testing of the solar collectors for this project.

Ask anybody who's ever won a gold medal in the Olympics how difficult it is to come first in the whole world. It's not easy, and it's a real achievement – it takes dedication and it takes teamwork.

There are not many people who climb the Olympic podium who don't have a whole list of people who helped them get there.

And that's what we have here – a strong team of dedicated partners who've worked hard to accomplish a world first.

Now, I'm up here on the podium, and I have a lot of people to thank – not for helping me get here, but helping to put this community here:

• The Government of Alberta has made a major contribution.
• The Federation of Canadian Municipalities
• Sustainable Technology Development Canada
• United Communities
• Sterling Homes
• ATCO Gas
• The Town of Okotoks
• Climate Change Central
• EnerWorks

Canada's New Government is proud to be part of this team and to have contributed $2million to this project. Another $5 million was provided by our partners.

Together, we've put on an excellent demonstration of not just what this technology can do, but of what governments and industry can do when they share a commitment to a vision.

That's what our government's ecoENERGY initiatives are all about.

Our ecoENERGY Technology investments are focused on the several key priorities: increasing clean energy supplies; reducing energy waste; and reducing pollution from conventional energy production and use.

We're investing in measures like the ecoENERGY Retrofit that's helping Canadians make their homes and buildings more energy-efficient. We're beefing up our energy-efficiency regulations to make sure the products we buy are among the most energy-efficient in the world.

We're investing in clean, renewable energy to power our homes and businesses. The Government of Canada through its ecoENERGY Renewable initiative is investing more than $1.5billion to make clean energy more available and more affordable for Canadians.

We are working with our partners in government and industry across Canada, and right across North America to bring forward the technologies that will allow us to be as clean and efficient as possible in the ways we produce and use energy.

And together, we can do those things. Canada can be more than an energy superpower – we can be a clean energy superpower.

The proof is right here.

The sun is supplying as much as 90 percent of the space heating in this community, and 60 percent of the water heating. Put that together with the energy efficiency that's built into these homes, and you've cut greenhouse gas emissions by five tonnes a year per house.

That's what we mean when we talk about using the power of the environment to protect the environment.

Drake Landing shows that it's possible. We need projects like this – a real, working, full-size model – to show that it can be done, and to lay the foundation for more communities just like this.

It is my hope that this project will inspire Canadians, and help them to envision a future – as I do – where the homes we live in are net zero users of energy.

Thank you again to all of the partners for making this day possible.

And thanks to all of you who live here for sharing our vision of a clean, healthy, energy future for all Canadians.

Thank you.