Premier Jason Kenney pitched Alberta as the future home of the hydrogen economy Tuesday at an energy event in Edmonton.
Kenney presented his plan to 2,000 people at Canada’s first hydrogen convention with hopes of drawing attention and money to Alberta.
“Hydrogen is the next chapter in a story Albertans have been writing for nearly a century,” said Kenney. “Alberta has the second best geological formation in the world for carbon sequestration.
“We have a growing renewable sector, in fact the fastest growing in Canada, and that can support clean hydrogen production across the province through a number of methods.”
The government wants to use the geological gift and Alberta’s skilled workforce to cash in on what will be an $11 trillion industry by 2050, according to Kenney.
The premier also spoke about a $50 million investment over the next four years to create the Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence. The centre will be a “pillar in Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap” and “will bring together industry, researchers and small businesses,” according to a government release.
“We’re hoping to leverage additional investments from the federal government and the private sector to turn it into a $200 million investment overall,” said Doug Schweitzer, the minister of jobs, economy and innovation.
The centre will be in Edmonton and run by Alberta Innovates, a government corporation responsible for promoting innovation in the province.
CANADA’S HYDROGEN PLANS
On Tuesday, a report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, a part of the auditor general’s office, evaluated the federal government’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The commissioner questioned projections that hydrogen could cut up to 45 megatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030. The report says Natural Resources Canada’s estimates are founded on doubtful cost estimates and depend on legislation that doesn’t exist yet, or at least isn’t consistent across the country.
The federal natural resources minister, who was attending the hydrogen conference, said despite the concerns from the report, Canada’s hydrogen goals are “feasible.”
“We will be launching a process with the provinces over the next several weeks to align on some of these economic issues,” said Jonathan Wilkinson.
Wilkinson said that Ottawa has much work to do to bring the provinces along with the government’s emissions reduction plan. He added that his government is prepared to move on its own, with measures such as bringing in a supply mandate for electric vehicles.
“The strategy is overly optimistic, but it actually is looking at what needs to be done. Our criticism is that you can’t just assume that those changes are going to happen,” said Commissioner Jerry DeMarco.
“(The government) could be right that this transformative scenario will happen, but they’ve got to actually put in place the programs.”
A supply mandate requiring manufacturers to have a certain number of electric vehicles for sale is expected in the coming weeks, according to Wilkinson.
Wilkinson added the price gap between natural gas and hydrogen will be narrowed through a combination of carbon taxes, industry commitments and new technology. He said a U.S. program, with which Canada is working, aims to bring the price of hydrogen down to $2 a kilogram by 2030 — a narrow enough gap to close with carbon pricing.
ALBERTA’S ROADMAP STILL ‘SHORT ON DETAILS’: NDP
Alberta’s official opposition is happy to see the government recognize the potential of hydrogen, but worries the initiatives might be coming too late.
“As other countries move towards the production of hydrogen it will take the right policy, investments, and leadership from the provincial government to be a leader in this sector,” said Kathleen Ganley, the NDP energy critic.
“Unfortunately, the UCP has dragged their feet and downplayed the potential of our hydrogen industry. They’ve even acknowledged they’re surprised by how quickly the industry has developed. To date, their hydrogen roadmap still remains short on details and this government needs to move quickly to capitalize on the excitement in this sector to ensure Alberta doesn’t fall behind.”
A spokesperson with Greenpeace Canada would also like to see Alberta pursue green hydrogen, not fossil hydrogen.
“Alberta could be a leader there too. We need to be moving away from fossil fuels,” said Keith Stewart. “Particularly, Europe is interested in green hydrogen and Canada could be part of providing that. It can also be used here at home to help with industrial emissions that are hard to reduce.”
There are two basic ways of producing hydrogen, according to Stewart. One is to use natural gas, where the hydrogen molecules are separated from the carbon molecules, another is to run an electrical current through water.
“(Hydrogen) isn’t an energy source on its own,” said Stewart. “It’s a way of storing energy, it’s like a battery, you can then reconvert it to electricity.
“If you get it from water and you use wind, solar or hydro power to generate the electricity that’s used, then it’s really low carbon.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski and The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
