Last year the ABIP, the Agricultural Bioproducts Innovation Program, was announced. It is meant to develop solutions adapted to the Canadian reality. Sugar cane ethanol is probably not the way to go for Canada, and the ABIP program is designed to develop Canadian solutions that will develop new product streams for Canadian producers. There are, as you have noted, concerns about corn-based ethanol and sugar cane ethanol in terms of environmental impact. There are ongoing discussions on that, and I don't think anyone has come to a final determination as to the exact environmental impacts of these production systems. They will vary, in any case, from region to region. The agricultural biomass innovation program is geared at developing the next generation of bioproducts, which are more focused on lignocellulosic technologies and are less reliant on corn and sugar.
On December 5th, 2007. See this statement in context.