2 October 2007
Québec City, Quebec

Thank you very much, Jacques [Jacques Gourde, Parliamentary Secretary, Natural Resources Canada], for that very kind introduction. I would also like to recognize Robert Hornung [President, CanWEA]. Robert and everybody of CanWEA have been very supportive and great to work with. I should also recognize Claude Béchard, the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife. He's been very, very supportive to work with.

Let me begin by saying what a pleasure it is to be here.

The reason I wanted to be here is because wind energy is so important for me and our government. In less than 25 years, wind energy in Canada has gone from being a futuristic, novel idea to a national priority.

And there's no doubt the Canadian Wind Energy Association deserves all the credit for doing that.

You've done an outstanding job promoting wind power. Thanks in large part to your efforts, wind energy is no longer talked about as an “alternative energy.”  It's part of the mainstream — a widely accepted and growing part of our energy mix. In fact — and you know this as well as I do — it's the fastest-growing energy source in the world, and by far the fastest-growing energy source here in Canada.

We've more than doubled our capacity last year alone, to more than 1,400 megawatts. And we expect by the end of this year there will be as much as 2,000 megawatts of wind power online.

I can tell you our government wants to make sure that that growth continues.

It has to because of what I like to call the “Triple E.” I believe that whenever you want to talk about energy, you have to talk about the economy and the environment. And one thing that's critical is that we find the balance between those three Es.

We need energy to fuel our economy — it's as simple as that.

And we have a lot of energy. In fact, as you've heard the Prime Minister say, we're emerging as an energy superpower. Only Saudi Arabia has more oil than we do. We have massive natural gas reserves.

And this is great news for the future of our country. It won't be long before our exports of oil and gas hit $100 billion a year.

Those exports already account for more than 80 percent of our trade surplus. But we have to recognize that fossil fuels also account for 80 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of our pollution. That's where the third E comes in: the environment.

It's not enough just to be an energy superpower. It's critical that we emerge as a clean energy superpower.

This is a must. We need energy if we're going to continue to grow our economy. But we cannot do that at the expense of our environment, at the expense of our health or at the expense of the planet.

We need to find a balance, a balance between producing enough energy to continue to grow our economy with the need to protect our environment and our health. We need a lot more clean energy.

This means using the technologies we have and developing new technologies — the technologies that will allow us to make the most of our renewable resources and allow us to clean up how we produce and use fossil fuels.

It means a lot more efficiency in our energy consumption, and it means bringing a whole lot more renewable energy into our energy mix. Now I'm sure you've heard of our eco-ENERGY initiatives that we launched last year, something that we're very proud of.

First, of course, was energy efficiency. We're investing $375 million to help both homeowners and small businesses become much more energy-efficient.

We also launched $230 million targeted on clean energy technology. We recognize the important role that fossil fuels will play. And technology will be key in cleaning those up — things like carbon capture and storage and clean coal technology.

Biofuels are important as well. We're making major investments in both ethanol and biodiesel — $1.5 billion and another half a billion dollars in the next generation of biofuels, the cellulosic.

And our government has invested $1.5 billion in our eco-ENERGY Renewable initiative. This production incentive is designed to increase Canada's supply of clean electricity by some 14.3 terawatt hours per year by 2011–2012. That's enough clean, emission-free electricity to power a million homes.Not just wind power but other renewable resources — biomass, low-impact hydro, geothermal, solar and ocean energy.

But there's no question that wind is going to be the major beneficiary of this program. Wind is leading the forefront. It’s many, many years in front of all these other technologies, and it’s doing an impressive job.

I was in Calgary back in July to announce the very first wind power project under this new program, the Kettles Hill wind farm. Through the Eco-Energy Renewable initiative, our government will contribute $16.5 million to this project over the next 10 years to ensure that the project can deliver clean electricity at competitive prices.

Today, I'm very pleased to announce the next major investment under this initiative. Over the next 10 years, we'll provide $31 million to the Baie-des-Sables Wind Energy Project. The Baie-des-Sables has 73 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines, for a total capacity of 109 megawatts. This is the first of six projects planned by the Cartier Wind Energy Incorporated. When they're all in place, they will make Cartier the biggest producer of wind power in this province, with a capacity of some 740 megawatts. These Cartier projects alone account for more than $1.1 billion of investment.

Funding and partnerships through the Eco-Energy Renewable initiative are laying the groundwork for developing these projects. Our goal is to create viable markets for wind energy so that future companies such as Cartier Wind Energy and others can thrive on their own, developing further projects. It's good for the economy. It's good for our energy supply. And it's very, very good for our environment.

Another creative example of work being done on wind energy is tomorrow's official opening of the Taber Wind Farm in Alberta. My colleague, Bob Mills, the Member of Parliament for Red Deer, will be there to announce that Canada's New Government is contributing about $19 million over 10 years to the Taber Wind Farm project.

Research and development are very important your industry as well. Again, our Eco-Energy Renewable initiative is looking at ways we can support this industry. Our government’s investments include wind energy technologies. I'm very proud of the research relationship that has developed between Natural Resources and CanWEA.

Your Advisory Committee on Research And Development came to us with three priorities: 

• You asked us for more investment in wind technology, especially in adapting and testing systems for use in offshore and cold-climate applications, and for more work on medium-sized turbines. We'll be working with the provinces and with industry on focused projects in this area through the ecoENERGY Technology initiative.
• You wanted more investment in modelling, so we can put turbines where they'll be most effective. Our scientists will be working with their colleagues at Environment Canada to build on important progress like the Canadian Wind Energy Atlas to improve assessment and forecasting tools for the industry. We’ve also identified a new research program to focus on the best ways to bring renewable energy into the existing power grid.
• You also asked for improvements to the infrastructure — better testing facilities and training facilities. Over the last two years, Natural Resources Canada and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency have worked together to transform the Atlantic Wind Test Site into the Wind Energy Institute of Canada.

I have no doubt that the institute will play a key role nationwide in accelerating the development of wind energy in Canada through research, testing, innovation and collaboration.

I know that another area of concern for the industry is the time involved in getting new projects approved. I share your concern. We need more clean energy. We need it to come online as quickly and efficiently as reasonably possible. We're not going to skip any steps, but there is no reason we can't do a lot better job in cutting these approval times down dramatically.

In the last budget, we announced the creation of the Major Projects Management Office. Yesterday, I was in Vancouver to announce the creation of this office as part of a $150-million investment by our government over the next five years to help streamline and improve our regulatory system. The goal of this initiative is to cut the timeline for major project approvals in half while ensuring environmental protection.

We know this is not strictly a matter for the federal government. I certainly appreciate your suggestions on how we can work with our partners in the province and the territory governments to deal with these issues. Increasing the pace at which approval is granted and rationalizing the regulatory process for wind energy projects are an ongoing process. In many cases, it's not so much a need to change the process but a matter of education and building understanding.

And here again, I have to congratulate the Canadian Wind Energy Association for your efforts to get clear, accurate information about wind power out there. I know you've been especially busy working with municipal governments.

Of course, as the old saying goes, nothing succeeds like success. As Canada's wind power industry grows and demonstrates just how effectively it can contribute to our energy supply, our economic growth and our environmental health, I am confident wind will continue to be recognized as an important part of our energy mix.

I look forward to working with all of you to ensure your success. You're making a remarkable impact on the environment. We need to push this forward and when you succeed, we'll all succeed.

Thank you.