St. John’s: Canada’s Premiers released their Canadian Energy Strategy (CES) on July 17, in association with a meeting of provincial Premiers. They described the CES as “an expression of their commitment to strengthening the economy, creating jobs, ensuring a secure supply of energy for all Canadians, supporting energy innovation and addressing climate change.”
The strategy lists a number of goals and associated actions. The goals, in brief:
1. Promote energy efficiency and conservation.
Between 1990 and 2008, Canada’s energy intensity (energy use per dollar of GDP) declined by an average of 1.2 per cent per year. However, Canada’s total energy consumption continues to grow. Between 1990 and 2009, energy consumption in Canada grew by 23 per cent.
The amount of energy used by consumers also increased over this period, led by increases in the industrial (37%), transportation (30%), residential (16%), and commercial and institutional (13%) sectors.
2. Transition to a lower carbon economy.
Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions increased by 18 per cent between 1990 and 2013. Projected capacity for wind power generation in Canada is estimated to be as high as 55,000 Megawatts, which could supply about 20 per cent of the country’s electricity requirements.
3. Enhance energy information and awareness.
4. Accelerate the development and deployment of energy research and technologies that advance more efficient production, transmission, and use of clean and conventional energy sources.
5. Develop and implement strategies to meet energy sector human resource needs now and well into the 21st century.
6. Facilitate the development of renewable, green and/or cleaner energy sources to meet future demand and contribute to environmental goals and priorities.
7. Develop and enhance a modern, reliable, environmentally safe and efficient series of transmission and transportation networks for domestic and export/import sources of energy.
8. Improve the timeliness and certainty of regulatory approval decision-making processes while maintaining rigorous protection of the environment and public interest. Best practices in engagement of Aboriginal communities gets a special mention.
9. Promote market diversification.
10. Pursue formalized participation of provinces and territories in international discussions and negotiations on energy.
The Canadian Electricity Association said it was encouraged by the integration of electricity into the Council of the Federation’s Canadian Energy Strategy. “The Premiers captured the indispensable importance that electricity plays in the economic life of Canada, and in the everyday lives of Canadians,” said the Honourable Sergio Marchi, CEA’s President and CEO. “Electricity is essential to our prosperity and high quality of life, and the proposed Energy Strategy highlights electricity as a central part of the plan moving forward.”
CEA was pleased that the Council of the Federation addressed most of seven recommendations it had submitted. However, it said, the Strategy did not fully recognize the unique challenges of, and the critical need for, infrastructure investment in the electricity sector. In addition, the report did not address the changing relationship between customers and their energy service providers.
Louise Comeau, Executive Director at Climate Action Network Canada said the strategy fails to strongly steer the country toward the clean, renewable energy system needed to cut carbon pollution and protect the climate.
“Governments discriminate against smoking and toxics in food and consumer products. What’s need now is discriminatory policy against fossil fuels if we are going to drastically reduce the carbon pollution putting our health and well-being at risk,” she said.
Copies of the energy strategy document are available online at this location:
http://www.pmprovincesterritoires.ca/phocadownload/publications/canadian_energy_strategy_eng_fnl.pdf.