Links: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/01/19/tories-environment.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070110/ghg_record_070110/20070115/

Chapter 3: Government involvement in renewable energy resources

In this article, it says that the federal government (Conservatives) is putting $1.5 billion into the funding of alternative energy technologies. These alternative energy technologies include: wind, solar, geothermal and other forms of renewable energies. These energy resources generate either have little or zero harmful emissions on earth. Harper said that having a 10-year incentive program (ecoEnergy Renewable Initiative) would be able to fund eligible projects to be constructed over the next 4 years. Also, Harper will offer incentives totaling to $36 million to encourage the use of clean renewable technologies for water heating, space heating and cooling in homes and offices. These incentives are to boost the production of renewable energy by up to 4,000 megawatts per year. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions will reduce sufficiently. Harper assured that this plan to reduce CO2 emission is achievable though it may take a long time.

The task of reducing greenhouse gas emission in Canada is the government’s job. Without funds from the government, businesses cannot afford the cost to research into these alternative energy technologies. In 1997, Canada agreed to sign the Kyoto Protocol (An International Treaty that assigns different targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the countries that signed), but until now, Canada has yet to meet the reductions. How come? From 1993 to 2006, when the Liberals were still in power, they never really forcefully made industries reduce CO2 emissions, nor did they take any real action into stopping the cause. In the 2002 parliamentary vote on Kyoto, the Conservatives actually voted against the Protocol but now Harper, the leader of the Conservatives are actually putting money into the funding of alterative energy technology? If the different parties of the government actually worked together into making Canada a better country, instead of going against each other in the parliament, Canada may already meet the Kyoto target and wouldn’t end up as the 3^rd country with the highest CO2 emissions per capita (below Luxembourg and the United States) in 2003.

Overall, even though the government is putting $1.5 billion into the funding of alternative energy technologies, which we will gradually see effects. They still need the support from industries, factories to reduce CO2 emissions and encourage consumers to use energy more efficiently. Hopefully, Canada won’t be listed as one of the top countries for ‘most CO2 emissions per capita’.