Environment committee  Yes, we obviously need to take into consideration our largest trading partner. As I said, for our sector the integration of the North American electricity grid is a key component, so a North American perspective is very important to any kind of solution.

Environment committee  We are in the commercialization phase. In terms of whether the technology is commercially available, that is another matter.

Environment committee  Project Pioneer is a societal issue. It is important to support the development of these technologies. We have seen this in other industries as well. Commercialization of certain technologies may require some financial support.

Environment committee  Over the years, a great deal of money has also been invested in renewable energy. There have been some geothermal energy projects. A whole framework was put in place to try and encourage the production of wind energy. We do not only advocate CO2 capture and storage; we are in fav

Environment committee  Alstom Power may say that it is ready for commercialization, but as I said at the outset, we need to define what is meant by commercialization. Will the project be carried out at a certain cost, based on a certain performance and a penalty for costs? I am not sure we have reached

Environment committee  In terms of the total, we're about a third of the emissions in terms of industrial emissions.

Environment committee  There has definitely been an increase in activity in terms of biomass. It is something that has been done for quite a few years in the forest industry. The key question, of course, for places in western Canada, where you have anywhere from 200 to 600 years of coal, is how you ar

Environment committee  I think we need to look at what's going on continentally and internationally in terms of context. That's an important element. Again, electricity underpins a lot of the other sectors of the economy. In relation to cost burdens, it has a huge impact on competitiveness. So to a

Environment committee  As I said in my opening comments, I think we need to have targets with a reasonable idea of how we're going to get there. I think we need to have a little more view in terms of how we can realistically get to those targets. As you pointed out earlier, if we have a big disconnec

Environment committee  Are you asking me whether there were discussions about job creation in the renewable energy industries, or in general?

Environment committee  Well, I don't have precise figures on that, but there were discussions with the government. We demonstrated that this would have a very positive economic impact. Of course, we would have liked there to be some economic development in terms of equipment production here in Canada.

Environment committee  We could give you a rough evaluation; yes, that would be possible.

Environment committee  Certainly some of our companies have done it individually. We haven't rolled it up as a national association, per se. I can say, though, in terms of looking at strategies to meet those particular targets, that we're looking at trying to find cost-effective but at the same time in

Environment committee  You made reference to hydroelectricity. As I said at the beginning of my presentation, there is tremendous potential in that regard in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. It is essential that we develop that potential. There are regulatory issues to

Environment committee  Well, the whole question of costing and developing the models and so forth, of course, depends on what your assumptions are in terms of input costs and other variables. I am familiar with the national round table's work. Again, it was interesting work that was illustrative of som