Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to what my colleague said about the development of clean energy technology. I recognize his passion and great interest in this matter.
I was interested in what he said about not importing technology, but having clean technology which would be suitable to our conditions and climate. I would like to ask the member about a couple of examples of that.
First, it is my understanding that for a number of years one of the granting councils in Ottawa has been funding research, I think in the Lac-Saint-Jean area, on wind turbines at very high levels and particularly on the problem of frost on the turbines. I believe he would agree with me that it is very important for the whole country in terms of adapting that technology. I would welcome his comments on that.
Second, he mentioned the St. Lawrence estuary and those areas. One problem we have in our sea areas is ice. Ice is a serious problem in terms of wave energy. Once the ice forms, the waves cease and it is impossible to extract the wave energy. However on the west coast wave energy has considerable potential.
On the other hand, ice does not affect tidal energy. On our east coast we have some tremendous tides, even though parts of the sea are covered by ice. It seems to me that there is great potential, not for tidal energy such as putting a dam across the Bay of Fundy as has been suggested in the past, but for putting multi-directional turbines in the water so that the tides, going in both directions, can turn them.
These are examples of the sorts of things the member means, clean technology adapted to our climate. I would be grateful for his comments on those.