Mr. Speaker, ethanol is the fuel of the future available today. It is sustainable development, a boon to agriculture, a 30 per cent reduction in harmful greenhouse gases, a plus for the economy.
A $170 million ethanol plant was announced last week for my riding. It will be world scale, 20 times larger than anything now in Canada, competing head on with the U.S. and using half a million tonnes of Canadian corn with an annual economic impact in southern Ontario of over $125 million.
It is a win-win situation giving an economic boost to Canadian agriculture while prolonging the life of oil reserves. The monumental and historic ethanol plant in Chatham hinges on one thing. I strongly urge the government to extend the current excise tax exemption on ethanol fuels for over 10 years.
American states, Alberta-