July 5, 2007
STRONGFIELD, SASKATCHEWAN

Thank you very much, Carol Skelton, for that kind introduction. 

Minister Strahl, Secretary of State Ritz, representatives of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, President and CEO of the facility here, Lionel Labelle.

Members of Parliament Trost, Fitzpatrick, Yelich, Lukiwski, Scheer.

Councillor Magnus, nice to see you here as well. 

Ladies and gentlemen.

First of all it's always a great pleasure to be back in Saskatchewan, particularly great to be here in Strongfield.  I didn't know so many people lived in Strongfield!

Anyway, it's great to see all of you and it's a pleasure to be here today with an announcement that I know is good news for Canada's farmers. 

With leading edge technology and abundant supplies of grains, oilseeds and other feedstocks, Canada is uniquely positioned to become a world leader in the production of biofuels. 

The global appetite for more environmentally friendly sources of energy is growing by the day.  The world is waking up to the fact that what and how we consume today will determine the quality of life for the generations of tomorrow.

This is a grave responsibility, one that Canada takes very seriously, and that's why our government is acting. 

Last December, our government began to move Canada towards smarter consumption by putting in place a regulation requiring a five percent average renewable content in gasoline by 2010. 

We also signalled our intention to develop a similar requirement of two percent for diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012.  Close to 3 billion litres of renewable fuels are going to be needed annually to meet the requirements of these proposed regulations. 

As it currently stands, however, Canada produces less than 400 million litres a year.  We need to bridge this gap and we need to do it quickly.  Today I'm proud to announce a program that will help us do just that.

Through ecoEnergy for Biofuels, our government will make a substantial investment in the form of incentives to producers of renewable alternatives to gasoline and diesel.  As a result, we're going to see a lot more bio-fuel plants cropping up across the country in the coming years, like the one we're breaking the ground for today. 

A project, I might add, that our government was proud to play a role in developing.  Primarily owned by local farmers, the Gardiner Dam Agro-Energy Ethanol Facility will convert 10 million bushels of wheat into 100 million litres of ethanol a year once it's up and running. 

This represents a tremendous economic opportunity for Saskatchewan farmers.  Indeed, across the country, plants such as this one are going to provide an exciting new market for Canada's 61 000 grain and oilseeds producers.  But while rural communities stand to benefit greatly from our new program, the ultimate winner is going to be the environment, a resource I mentioned a moment ago: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land that grows our food.

Our health and well-being depend on the quality both of our environment and our economy.  What Canadian governments must do, therefore, is develop policies that are environmentally ambitious while also being economically sound.  By providing incentives to transform crops into a cleaner, greener source of energy, ecoEnergy for Biofuels meets this test. 

With the transportation sector accounting for more than a quarter of Canada's greenhouse gas output, increasing the renewable fuel content in gasoline is going to put a real dent in emissions.  In fact, it's estimated that the reductions will be equivalent to removing almost 1 million vehicles from the road.  That's 1 million vehicles.

Our investment in biofuels is a double win – it's good for the environment and it's good for farmers.

Now, friends, we promised to deliver for all communities when we took government, not just the country's largest cities, and we have delivered. 

But we're just getting started. 

In the weeks, the months and the years ahead, we'll continue to deliver, because Canada must work for all of us, and together we will build a stronger, safer and better Canada. 

Thank you very much.

News Release