Federal Budget: It’s Gotta Get Better From Here!

The federal budget was more disappointing than expected. The federal scene is so depressing that I have to share Tim Weis’ take — he has found a silver lining: “The good news is, we can only improve from here.”

We must be close to a turning point in investing in the environment, because the budget tabled today couldn’t do much less.

A token $25 million for the next four years allocated to renewable energy in the forestry sector shows that this government sees renewable energy technologies as “boutique” experiments, not the mainstream solutions that they are in other parts of the world — and, more importantly, what they need to be in Canada.

If the government is going to live up to its election promise of generating 90 per cent of its electricity from sources that don’t produce greenhouse gas pollution by 2020, we will need a ten-fold increase in renewable power in the next 10 years. Currently, 77 per cent of our electricity comes from “non-emitting sources” (defined by the government as large hydro, nuclear, carbon capture and storage and renewables) — but to close that gap on a national scale will require a serious ramp-up of investment in renewable power. New nuclear or carbon capture and storage cannot be rolled out in a meaningful way in only 10 years, in spite of the $1.5 billion allocated to them in the last two years.

By contrast to Canada’s inaction, see China to unveil multibillion-dollar renewable energy plan

More:

Canadian Press: Environment, arts get short shrift in new budget

Canwest: Wind energy loses out

Canwest: Renewable energy generates new spending – No mention of climate change commitments to developing countries, despite endorsement in throne speech

Tim Weis’ Pembina blog