ST. JOHN’S, NL – Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is promoting a national strategy to make Canada a “green energy superpower” as his election tour schedules a series of stops Tuesday in Quebec.
“The whole North American continent is crying for green power,” Ignatieff said at a Monday night rally in Newfoundland and Labrador. “We’ve got a choice here. We can chop our energy markets into five or six little pieces and we will never be world players.
This is the time in which we have to have the vision to stand tall and think how do we do this all for Canada… How do we show the federal leadership, the vision that makes us truly a global, green energy superpower.”
Ignatieff said that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has caused divisions by pledging to offer loan guarantees for a major hydroelectric development in the Atlantic province without consulting the Quebec government.
Premier Jean Charest has slammed Harper’s pledge, saying it would distort energy prices through federal subsidies that were never offered to Hydro Quebec throughout its development.
Ignatieff, who has said a Liberal government would also support new hydroelectric development in Newfoundland and Labrador, said it’s time to turn the page on bitter disputes like these that have also occurred in the past between Quebec and its Atlantic neighbour.
“We absolutely must have a strategic and long-term vision for green energy for Canada,” he said.
“I can’t change the past. None of us can change the past and there is bitterness in the past, but together we can change the future.”
He said a new Liberal government strategy would be based on equality between provinces and green energy markets.
He also said it would be done by respecting provincial jurisdiction, which gives those governments control over natural resources.
