International Trade committee  Thank you for that question. We were very pleased to see the announcement of the workforce commitments in the fall economic statement. The workforce is one of the strategic priorities for our organization in supporting the training, recruitment and retention of the workforce for all the work that will be required to deploy wind and solar across the country.

International Trade committee  I'll have to get back to the committee with some follow-up in writing on that. Unfortunately, I can't speak to that off the top of my head today.

International Trade committee  Yes. I'm happy to do that. Basically, the way to look at it is that we have a 2035 net-zero goal right now. We expect that wind and solar will be drivers to getting us to net zero. We see a lot of demand from corporate buyers to go into long-term contracts, especially in Alberta, with wind and solar providers.

International Trade committee  Perhaps I could jump in as well. I just want to reiterate something I said in my opening commentary about ensuring that we have, especially on the renewable electricity or the net-zero grid 2035 question, not just a program conversation here but also a policy conversation. Prior to the IRA, Canada was a real leader in decarbonization of the grid via both the carbon price and the OBPS as well as the conversations around clean electricity regulation.

International Trade committee  Thank you for that question. I would echo the commentary about the importance of the regional tables for those discussions. Every province is going to have different needs when it comes to decarbonization, specifically decarbonization of the grid. I mentioned earlier that we do see opportunities from coast to coast to coast, but we also think and understand that the need to decarbonize the grid, let's say in Saskatchewan, is going to be different from the infrastructure needs to meet growing demand in Ontario.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. When we talk about the untapped opportunity for renewable energy in Canada, we are really talking about opportunities that exist across the country. Right now we are in the midst of conversations and procurement processes really from coast to coast as we see conversations in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan as well as a real boom in the deregulated market in Alberta.

International Trade committee  Yes. The fear for our sector is that the benefits and the long-term policy certainty or the long-term program certainty that comes out of the IRA cause quite a number of our members to have concerns that capital and financing that they require to deploy and operate their projects in Canada will take more interest in opportunities in the U.S.

International Trade committee  Yes. I would add to that, although it's not necessarily my area of expertise. At CanREA we also would emphasize that there is a very central importance to government funding to support recycling in order to support a resilient critical minerals strategy. We could say that when it comes to the material that's required for batteries or even for wind and solar, we think there really is an opportunity for recycling to play a very critical part in a critical minerals strategy.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. I think that it is really critical to understand the low-cost environment that we are in, in the renewable energy sector. Looking at contracts that have been signed in Alberta via the renewable electricity program, we're talking about $40 per megawatt hour or about 4¢ per kilowatt, which is the cost of wind electricity in Alberta, for instance.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and committee members for the opportunity to provide comment today on the impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act on renewable energy in Canada. CanREA, or the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, is the national industry association representing wind energy, solar energy and energy storage in Canada.