Harper pays Liberals the ultimate compliment — and copies their Wind Power program

Yesterday on the West Coast, Prime Minister Harper announced a 10–year, $1.48–billion plan to support projects using renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and tidal.

The Prime Minister was asked by my colleague in Vancouver Todd Battis and other reporters if his announcement was a lot like the programs the Liberals had to support renewable energies but which were suspended as soon as the Conservatives took office.

To Battis, Harper said: “I see Mr. Dion keeps talking about an election. If he chooses to force one, I'll be very comfortable comparing our record of action on the environment with his record of inaction on the environment.”

Harper also said: “We obviously know the previous government was not reducing emissions. A lot of the programs they had in place didn't have that effect. Or quite frankly had never got put in place.”

Well, it’s certainly true that, overall, Canada was producing a heckuva lot more greenhouse gas emissions when the Liberals left office last January than when Jean Chretien became prime minister in 1993. But it’s just as correct to say that, when it came to support for renewable energy, particularly wind power, the Liberals had “made progress”, according to Canada’s Environment Commissioner.

The Liberals had a plan called the Wind Power Production Initiative (WPPI and known in eco circles was ‘whippy’). They had another program in place since 1997 called Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI) for non-wind renewable energy projects.  A policy advisor at the Minister of Natural Resources indicates that for those who prepared business plans to apply for subsidies under the Liberal WPPI or REDI will likely not have to change a word to qualify for the same size subsidy — a penny a kilowatt hour — through the Conservative plan announced yesterday. In other words, all the Conservatives did was to roll WPPI and REDI together into a single program.

In Budget 2005, WPPI was allocated $200–million over 5 years (budget years 2005–06 to 2009–10) and a total of $920–million over 15 years and a program called Renewable Power Production Initiative was allocated $97–million over five years for a total of $297 million over five years.

The Conservatives did not provide details on how much they expected to spend each year over the same five year period because they have budgeted $1.48–billion to be paid out over 10 years for projects constructed over the next four years. The goal of the Conservative plan is to generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy projects. The Liberal WPPI plan had as its goal the generation of 4,000 MW of electricity from wind power alone. Yesterday, NRCAN officials confirmed that they expect their plan to generate about 3,000 MW from wind — 1,000 MW less than the Liberals. The Conservatives aim to fund projects that will create about 400 MW from biomass and the the balance, another 500 MW, from a combination of small-hydro, tidal, solar and others.

So to the very last point the Prime Minister makes — that some programs “never got put in place” — is not completely correct and even less correct if the PM is referring only to renewable energy programs.

In fact, WPPI was so much “in place” that many had been calling on Harper to reinstate the WPPI program because it was so effective. And it wasn’t just the usual crowd of ‘greenies’ calling for WPPI to come back. Here’s Chuck Szmurlo, a vice-president for energy giant Enbridge Inc., testifying in front of MPs last October said: “The Wind Power Production Incentive was a well-designed and well understood fiscal measure which was successful in stimulating investment in wind power. Enbridge alone has investment commitments for 271 megawatts of wind power together with our joint venture partners. I believe that the government should restore the Wind Power Production Incentive program to maintain a positive investment climate for wind power.”

Now the Prime Minister also said “the previous governnment was not reducing emissions”. I suppose that depends on how you look at it. While it is certainly true that, overall, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions had grown significantly during the period when Prime Ministers Chretien and Martin were in charge, there were some programs — and WPPI is one of them — that were reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Canada’s environment commissioner Johane Gelinas — she works with the Auditor-General  and reports straight to Parliament — looked at the WPPI program in her most recent audit and found that, as of March 31, 2006,  a total of  $21.3-million had been spent on WPPI projects.  She notes that WPPI had, as its goal, the reduction of 900,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and appeared to be well on its way to that goal – having helped cut greenhouse gas emissions by 360,000 tonnes. The Conservatives, incidentally, did not specific a target, measured in tonnes, for greenhouse gas reductions with their renewables plan, though I asked for that number several times on Friday.

“We found broad-based support for the [WPPI] program and clear statements from provincial governments,  companies and utilities about WPPI's influence on their decisions to invest in or support wind power projects,” Gelinas wrote in her report to Parliament.

We can now, apparently, add the Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party to that list of “broad-based support” for the wind power program designed and instituted by the previous Liberal government.