The Canadian Press reports that the Liberal Party (with a capital L) has pledged a $1b fund to subsidize R&D in green technologies. Party Leader Stéphane Dion notes that Canada must go green via government subsidies– or else: "Tax cuts alone are not enough… Innovation is essential to the survival of our industries, but it can be an expensive undertaking." Ostensibly, some of money will go to Ontario, where the heart of Canadian automotive manufacturing aches with the pain of high fuel prices and an atmospheric loonie. Though he slammed a similar amount promised by the current Conservative government– albeit as a high-dollar relief measure not a Green subsidy– Canadian Auto Workers' head honcho Buzz Hargrove welcomed the announcement. "This fund would provide a much-needed boost to struggling manufacturers and the workers they employ, particularly the auto industry which is grappling with unfair trade, a slowing U.S. economy, a high dollar and environmental challenges." Buzz has always known where his friends lie (so to speak). But let's not forget that Canada's Liberals have an abysmal environmental track record. After Jean Chrétien's Liberal government ratified the Kyoto protocol, Canada became the number one per capita consumer of energy among the developed world. Greenhouse gas emissions rose by 26 percent during the years the Liberals held power (so to speak). Still, no political party has a lock on hypocrisy.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
As someone who has tried to get their hands on Canadian Government R&D funds in the past, I suspect this would only help large organizations that can justify the resources to manage the government bureaucrats. In the end, the money will only be 25% efficient and likely won’t provide any benefits to Buzz’s crew. The Liberals’ on the other hand will gain some green credibility at my expense
Someone should propose that instead of authorizing a “fund” which removes the pol’s one step away from the blame, perhaps the decisions on where the money goes should be made before the appropriation and then voted on publicly.
That would give all the little guys like you a chance to get in front of the cameras before the votes are bought.
@crackers – (a bit off topic) – trying to secure funds from the Canadian government if you are a smaller organization is actually relatively easy; you just have to do it after spending the money as an SRED tax credit. It’s a bit of a pain, but if you fill out the appropriate paperwork (and it’s truly R&D) it’s almost guaranteed…
As someone who has tried to get their hands on Canadian Government R&D funds in the past, I suspect this would only help large Quebec organizations that ‘donate’ a percentage to the Party.
Fixed it for ya.
Great, spend more givernment dllars, while the economies of the western world are about to sink into the abyss (see what is going on with the London stock exchange today). Stupid politicians.
For all the people who think any and all government initiatives are hopeless, wasted etc I have a prime example that this need not be so.
If you haven’t been in Niagara Falls lately then go and check it out. The US side where the “market” takes care of everything is dark, run-down, dirty, a small third world ghetto transplanted right next to perhaps the best known natural wonder in North America. Then you cross the bridge and wow!, suddenly you are magically transported to a well-run, well-ordered, well-planned, first world tourist town built around the same natural wonder. Yet except for the casino none of the attractions, hotels are government-owned, subsidized or built.
What’s the difference? On the American side the market somehow didn’t work, it didn’t see the opportunity. And on the Canadian side the government did work, it saw the opportunity and made the most of it by taking the initiative and rebuilding the town of Niagara Falls.
Of course I am not saying that governments work as a rule and that markets don’t. What I am saying is that it depends.
Well here is the USA, California specifically, the state government is going bankrupt from all the public initiatives, programs, “freebies”, handouts etc. The private sector would be doing better if the public sector quit taking so much in funds. I would suppose that the USA side of Niagra Falls be in better shape if the taxation were not as high. I was in that area four years ago and the US side did not look so bad. But if Canada wants that side of the falls, the US could maybe sell it to them, we could use the money.
What Samir doesn’t mention is that the lion’s share of Canada’s per capita increase in GHG emissions has come from the extraction and refining of the oil sands in Alberta.
In other words, the average Canadian did not suddenly become the world’s most profligate emitter. If you ignore the oil sands, we emit less than our southern neighbours.
You got to remember too, us Canucks burn a lot of our power just heating our homes during our colder nights. It also taks a lot more gas to go from town-to-town in a country with a low population density.
dean and blunozer: all of that’s fine, hey business is business and life is life. What irritates is that it was all done under a veneer of environmental hypocrisy.
The guy pictured on the left with CAW union boss Buzz Hargrove is actually Ontario Liberal Premier (provincial el supremo) Dalton McGuinty.
Canadian Liberals have a track record for promising anything to get elected then reneging. I believe that is roughly equivalent to U.S. Democrats. Regardless, there hasn’t been enough money printed for them to keep all their promises.
Fortunately there is virtually no chance federal Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion, who last week suggested NATO invade nuclear-armed Pakistan, will ever become Prime Minster (federal maximum utmost).