Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Bloc Québécois member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, the NDP member for Burnaby—Douglas, my colleague from Ottawa South and the member for Kenora for their contributions so far.
I thank the member for Kenora for his contribution, but he is only repeating what was said a month ago as if nobody has spoken in the House since then about this issue.
The government has two points against the motion. The government does not want to be part of IRENA, the new international renewable energy agency, because it claims it duplicates organizations that already exist. The government claims that it is doing enough about renewable energy and feels it does not need to add to that.
All colleagues who have spoken about these points have made it very clear how wrong the government is in its assertions. I do not want to repeat many of them, but it is clear that IRENA is welcomed by the very organizations that the government claims will be duplicated and overlapped. They are welcoming IRENA as an umbrella institution that will coordinate the booming file of the renewable energy sector. This argument does not hold.
More countries are coming to IRENA one after the other. Why would Canada be the last? Why is the government always a laggard instead of a leader?
Now I will focus on the point made by my hon. colleague that the government is doing enough about renewable energy. We need to add to what the government is doing.
Of the $3.6 billion eco-energy initiative that the Conservative government launched in 2007, most of it were programs brought in by previous Liberal governments that the Conservatives merely rebranded. The Conservatives are only riding on our coattails.
Moreover, most of the clean technology investments, which the government referred to in its 2009 budget, have nothing to do with renewable energy. The budget says that we will see $2.5 billion contributed to clean energy over the next five years. How much of this will be renewable? Most of the $850 million allocated to development and demonstration will be spent on large scale carbon capture and storage projects. This is not a renewable energy solution.
The government wants to reach a target of producing 90% of Canada's electricity from non-emitting sources by 2020. It is 73% today.
It seems that the government wants to increase non-emitting sources through nuclear and CCS for coal. That is why the bulk of federal energy investment in the 2009 federal budget went to nuclear power and CCS, not to renewables.
To reach the government's goal in the timeframe noted, 12 years, renewable energy has to be a much larger part of the mix. One cannot build a new nuclear power plant for 2020 and we do not know when CCS will be implemented on a large scale. It may not be before 2025, while a wind farm can be built in less than one year, and many wind projects are shovel ready.
The government is still refusing to extend the ecoENERGY program, its modest renewable energy support program, even though it is perfectly clear that the government has known for months that this program will run out of money by the fall. The government knows that. It must take action and renew its ecoENERGY program.
During our last debate in May, the price of a barrel of oil was $54 U.S. Now it is $72 U.S., and the global recession is still in full swing. Just imagine how much damage our fossil fuel dependency will cause once the recession has run its course. The time for renewable energy is at hand. But will Canada be in a position to benefit?
We cannot turn our backs on an industry ready to create jobs as well as clean energy. Since our last debate, the UN reported that renewable power investments overtook investments in power generation from coal and gas.
Canada must begin its green revolution. This is about our children's future.
I am counting on the government to change its mind and sign on to IRENA.