News | Energy and the Environment: We Need a National Discussion

This article was published in the Hill Times on December 5, 2011 by Senator David Angus and Senator Grant Mitchell.

The Keystone XL pipeline decision splashed across major newspaper and twitter feeds illustrates an increased appetite by the public to engage with energy issues. As heated debate swirls among pundits, environmental groups and energy stakeholders, it can be difficult for Canadians and policy makers alike to evaluate competing claims and interests.  So where does Canada go from here?

There are complex challenges facing us today and we need to collaborate widely to transform rhetoric into viable long term solutions. Future generations of Canadians are counting on us to get this right.

For our part, as members of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources’ we identified that there is an urgent need for a national energy discussion and we launched a comprehensive study on Canada’s energy future over two and a half years ago. Our study provides a discussion venue for energy sector experts, government policy makers, aboriginal and industry leaders, environmental organizations and concerned citizens. Our study is enriched by the collaboration of over 200 witnesses from across the country.

Our hearings highlighted a fragmented energy conversation in this country. Individuals and organizations are passionately involved in the energy future debate, but many of these discussions are occurring in silos. Without bringing together environmental and economic interests, without recognizing a strong national discussion can only take place with increased energy literacy, we are not fully capitalizing on the home-grown ideas, innovations and efforts needed for Canada to prosper.

Not enough Canadians celebrate Canada as a major energy producer and exporter.  As a nation our quality of life is shaped by our abundant natural resources and our ingenuity to develop them responsibly. Addressing our climate change challenge requires enhanced energy literacy among all Canadians.  Collectively, we need to better understand how the lights go on in our homes and our individual impacts on the environment. Informed energy citizens of today are the energy heroes of tomorrow.  Our clean energy future will involve tradeoffs and difficult policy making decisions. Informed energy citizens will support and encourage smart energy choices.

Just this past week, we completed public hearings in part of Canada’s energy heartland, Alberta and British Columbia. A variety of witnesses provided a wide spectrum of opinions and viewpoints. Here is a summary of highlighted challenges and opportunities we heard.

Canada needs to gain access to new energy markets in order to get a competitive price for our products and to diversify away from reliance solely on the US market. Delay can mean being locked out from opportunities to meet Asian energy demand. Massive deployment of new energy infrastructure is needed.  We heard, however, repeated concerns about the capacity of the regulatory process to approve major new projects in a timely way. The pace and duplication in the regulatory process must be addressed while we continue to demand the highest environmental standards and while respecting our Constitutional commitment to First Nations peoples.

Innovation across all energy sources and production processes must be dramatically ramped up.  Witnesses stressed that technological deployment and innovation is key to both addressing climate change challenges and sustainably supplying growing global energy demand. One witness stressed, that funding everything produces mediocre results, not game-changing technologies.

Industry abhors a regulatory vacuum. We have heard consistent calls from industry for greater certainty regarding emission reduction regulations. After our hearings in the West, we are left with no doubt that the federal government has set itself very ambitious emission reduction targets. Industry, however, is missing the necessary signals it needs about the policies to meet these target that are essential to long term planning and investment decisions. Many witnesses called for market based policy instruments to allow industry the maximum flexibility in their compliance, and at the most efficient cost.

The committee was impressed with the Horn River Basin Producers group approach to aboriginal community engagement. This group brings together stakeholders and producers to address in a collaborative way concerns like aboriginal employment and job training opportunities. This model is being studied by other producers and even being exported to other countries.

We toured Westport Innovations, a Vancouver based company that leads the industry in developing liquid natural gas technologies for medium and heavy vehicle fleets. This company has partnered with Robert Transport, a Quebec transport company deploying LNG engines in their trucking fleet.  This is an example of the pan-Canadian collaboration that will drive our energy future. On another site visit the Natural Resource Canada’s CanmetENERGY Research Centre in Devon Alberta, Committee members were shown leading edge technology by passionate researchers who were committed to excellence in oil sands production and processing.

After completing public hearings in all ten provinces we are in the homestretch of our study.  We hope our report, due June 2012, based on the testimony we have heard will serve as a resource for all Canadian as they collaborate on a Canadian Energy Strategy.

Senator David Angus serves as Chair and Senator Grant Mitchell serves as Vice-Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. The Committee is holding public hearings in Saskatchewan and Manitoba December 6^th -9^th, 2011. Find out more about the Committee’s study at www.canadianenergyfuture.ca or follow us on twitter @sceenr_says.