November 27, 2009

Remarks from event, where MP Lee Richardson announced over $800,000 in funding from the Government of Canada’s Renewable Fuels Strategy for the project:

Thank you very much, and welcome everyone. It is an honour to represent Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government of Canada in the launch of the biodiesel project we are announcing today.

I want to congratulate Canadian Pacific Railway for its outstanding initiative in the development of this project. In particular, I want to thank CP Rail’s President and CEO, Fred Green, and Jim Cunningham, Vice-President of Mechanical and Regulatory Affairs.

As you know, rail transportation is important to a large and sparsely populated country like Canada. An extensive railway network moves goods and people and supports our economy.

But like other modes of transportation using fossil fuel, there is an environmental price to be paid in the form of greenhouse gases. To carry that weight, our railways consumed 2.2 billion litres of diesel fuel.

That’s a lot of fuel, and the positive effect on the environment could be substantial if only a portion of it was supplied from renewables.

Compared to gasoline, grain-based ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 per cent on a life-cycle basis. However, the GHG reduction for biodiesel can be at least 60 per cent compared to diesel.

Increasing the use of cleaner, renewable energy is an important part of the Government of Canada’s strategy to reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. We are committed to reducing total GHGs by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020.

Our Government has committed up to $2.2 billion to support an integrated Renewable Fuels Strategy. The ecoENERGY for Biofuels program is a key component of this strategy and will invest up to $1.5 billion to increase the supply and availability of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. The goal is to increase supply in the market in advance of the regulations.

But we can’t just switch to biodiesel without conducting some feasibility tests. We need to determine firsthand how biodiesel will perform when used in a harsh environment like Canada’s.

It was for this reason that the Government of Canada initiated the National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative (NRDDI) under its Renewable Fuels Strategy.

The objective of this initiative is to address industry and end-user questions about renewable-diesel use by demonstrating how it will perform under Canadian conditions. That’s when Canadian Pacific Railway stepped up to the plate with this project – the CP Rail Biodiesel Project.

This Government is working closely with industry partners like Canadian Pacific to support the use of renewable diesel in the Canadian fuel market and that is why I am pleased to announce that we are investing over $800,000 in this important step forward to help reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Not only is this project helping our environment, but we’re investing in Canadian technology and innovation and stimulating employment.

Important investments which help us now and will also provide significant benefits for us in the future. And that’s why our Government is committed to delivering for all Canadians.

We look forward to the lesions learned and the final report for this project, testing the use of biodiesel in four locomotives running between the cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Again, I want to thank the employees of CP Rail and the citizens of Calgary and Edmonton for their initiative in developing this pilot project. It’s an important step in moving forward with renewable fuel regulations and in reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions while promoting Canadian innovation and creating high-skilled jobs for our workforce.

Thank you.