Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the members of the Standing Committee on International Trade for inviting our organization to take part in this important study.
My name is Francis Bradley and I am president and chief executive officer of Electricity Canada.
Electricity Canada is the national forum and voice of the electricity business in Canada. Our members generate, transmit and distribute electrical energy to industrial, commercial, residential and institutional customers across Canada.
We're here today to study the potential trade impacts on Canada of the United States' Inflation Reduction Act. In essence, this is a conversation on how Canada is to remain competitive in the face of massive U.S. federal investments in support of climate priorities and the energy transition.
For the electricity sector, the IRA presents a significant challenge in attracting and retaining clean energy investments in Canada. Our concern is that investors will see the United States as a more appealing jurisdiction to make clean energy investments in. This risks slowing our own progress towards the decarbonization of our grid.
The recent fall economic statement is a good first step in ensuring that we keep pace with the United States and remain competitive in attracting investments. Electricity companies in Canada have been asking the government to accelerate investments and to develop the mechanisms that will enable us to make Canada’s grid green by 2035 and bring the country to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The fall economic statement begins that process of acceleration.
In particular, we are pleased to see the launch of the Canada growth fund, which will reduce risk and support investment and deployment in clean technologies like CCUS and hydrogen that will be necessary to build a non-emitting electricity grid.
The $250 million investment in training will help build a labour force that will meet the needs of our net-zero future.
The funding to accelerate approvals for major projects by expanding the capacity of regulatory bodies will be vitally important, given the large infrastructure challenges facing us over the coming years.
The FES includes investment tax credits, or ITCs, for a broad range of electricity technologies like small modular reactors, battery storage and wind, solar and water power. Electricity Canada is pleased to see these incentives.
Canada must keep up the pace. The government must accelerate the realization of a stable and supportive investment climate. The FES begins that process and puts us on the right track, but more is needed. We are hopeful that this trend will continue in budget 2023.
In building on the FES, we look forward to continuing the conversation to maximize these efforts, first by finding ways to support non-tax paying groups like Crown corporations, municipalities, and indigenous groups. Second is expanding supports for large hydro and nuclear projects, which will be a key part of that energy transition. Third is prioritizing technology agnosticism in clean technology supports to allow for all to compete on an even playing field, including emerging technologies.
The government must also remove undue cost, delay and impediment for clean electricity project developments and operation. We recognize that the FES does take a step in that direction by providing additional funding to regulatory bodies. We look forward to seeing how this is implemented and hope to have the opportunity to participate in that process.
Electricity Canada will be submitting a letter to the Department of Finance in the coming weeks on ways to address these. We’d be happy to share these suggestions with the committee once this is finalized.
The Inflation Reduction Act reminds us that we must move faster, not only to remain competitive with the United States but also to meet our own climate objectives. Addressing climate change and building electricity capacity for Canada to achieve net zero is a massive undertaking. We need to take bolder and faster steps if we want to achieve these things by the deadlines the government has set.
The number 4,781 is the number of days left before the end 2035, by which time the government has committed to a net-zero electricity grid. This is not a lot of time. Tomorrow it will be 4,780 days. Ensuring that Canada remains competitive is an important piece of building out a clean, affordable and reliable electricity system for the decades to come.
Thank you very much.