IN AN APPEARANCE BEFORE THE Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, Pierre Fortin, the Executive Director of the Canadian Hydro power Association (CHA), has called for more hydro power to fight climate change and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Fortin said that to reduce GHG, the country must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can help towards achieving that goal, he stated.
Fortin asked the Federal government put in place incentives favouring the development of all renewable sources of energy, including large and small hydro power facilities, as hydro power facilities with reservoirs have the capacity to store energy over time and are uniquely flexible. He said the use of a domestic emissions trading system (DET) combined with an equal allocation of permits to clean electricity generation on the basis of a single national emission standard is one of the most effective ways of ensuring the development of renewable sources of electricity.
Fortin also called for interprovincial trade by expanding the electricity grid across Canada to allow the East-West export of hydro power, as well as the export of hydro power to the US to displace fossil fuel- generated electricity.