VICTORIA — Dan Woynillowicz, policy director at Clean Energy Canada, made the following statement in response to the federal government’s 2018 budget:
“Today’s budget announced support for implementing key pieces of the government’s climate change and clean growth plan, including putting a price on carbon pollution and extending tax support for clean energy.
“But you don’t have to search for ‘clean energy’ in order to assess how this budget will support it. Clean energy will broadly benefit from the budget’s focus on research and innovation, equality and skills training, and procurement from small and medium businesses.
“While the federal government has made real progress on carbon pricing and phasing out coal-fired power to clean up our power grid, today’s budget is also a reminder of the impact that slipping timelines can have. A Zero-Emissions Vehicle Strategy to boost electric car adoption was to be introduced in 2017, but it still hasn’t been completed—and consequently support for its implementation isn’t in today’s budget.
“Making progress on climate change and clean growth is hard and at times slow work, and we can’t ignore the fact that Canada is still digging out from a deficit of previous federal inaction. Today’s budget is a welcome marker of progress and resolve.”
KEY FACTS
- Canada’s clean technology industry is comprised of more than 850 technology companies, operating in every region of Canada and dominated by companies classified as small- and medium-sized enterprises (fewer than 499 employees).
- On a per-capita basis, Americans had twice as many electric cars as Canadians in 2016, and research has found it’s five times more difficult to purchase an EV in Canada than in the U.S. Canada still lacks a federal strategy to increase the deployment of EVs.
- As of 2017, 42 national and 25 subnational jurisdictions are putting a price on carbon. These jurisdictions account for about half of the global economy and more than a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Among those countries planning or considering the use of carbon pricing are three of the world’s five largest economies: China, Japan and India. In late 2017, China launched what will be the world’s largest carbon market.
