RePower Alberta

Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — Canada is losing out on about 66,000 jobs because the Harper government is not keeping pace with renewable energy investments made by the Obama administration, estimates a new report to be released on Tuesday at a green economy conference in Washington.

The report, Falling Behind: Canada's Lost Clean Energy Jobs, produced by Environmental Defence Canada and the United Steelworkers, says Canada needs to invest $11.5 billion in clean energy initiatives to match the U.S. on a per person basis.

"At every opportunity, the Canadian government emphasizes that it is harmonizing its energy and climate policies with the United States," said the report. "Yet when it comes to investing in clean energy jobs, Canada does not even come close to matching U.S. efforts."

The estimated job losses are based on Canadian and Ontario labour statistics showing that each million dollars invested in renewable energy generates 14.1-16.4 direct and indirect jobs.

Gillian McEachern, the program manager for climate and energy at Environmental Defence, noted that not only is Canada falling behind, it also stalled a couple of popular federal initiatives promoting renewable power such as wind energy projects as well as a home energy retrofit incentive program. McEachern said that the home retrofit program also helped stimulate the economy through homeowners who were hiring contractors and auditors to proceed with their renovations.

"Rather than continuing that (home retrofit) program at a relatively low cost, we ended up cancelling it," said McEachern who authored the report along with Environmental Defence policy director Matt Price and Charles Campbell, a researcher with the United Steelworkers. "On the other hand, within the (Canadian) stimulus package, more than half of the money that has been classified as clean energy spending is actually being invested in (carbon capture and storage technologies for) oil companies."

The report recommends that Canada should be matching or surpassing U.S. investments on a per-capita basis, while introducing new incentives and training programs for clean energy workers and their industry. It also recommends the government introduce regulations to put a price on greenhouse gas pollution so that the polluting companies pay for investments in clean energy.

The report said that the clean energy sector has grown significantly over the past decade and could become one of the world's largest industrial sectors over the next 10 years, ranking behind electronics and automotive products.

"Because of its obsession with the tarsands, the Canadian government has failed to recognize that other countries — our competitors and trading partners — are moving on," said the report. "Clean energy is creating thousands of good jobs today, and is the growth market of tomorrow. It allows countries to decrease their global warming pollution and provides their economies with a secure, clean source of energy."

Overall, the report said South Korea was among the top-ranked countries in terms of green investments with nearly 80 per cent of its stimulus spending dedicated toward clean energy. China and Norway came next at 34 and 31 per cent respectively, followed by Australia (23 per cent), France (18 per cent), the United Kingdom (15 per cent), Germany (13 per cent), the U.S. (12 per cent), Mexico (10 per cent), followed by Canada at nine per cent.

However, Canada had a higher percentage of green stimulus spending than Saudi Arabia (eight per cent) and Japan (six per cent).