The federal cabinet will have to decide quickly on the rules for the biofuel segment of the government’s environmental plan, said agriculture minister Chuck Strahl.
He told a grain industry seminar Dec. 5 that any government environmental policy must include an agricultural component that guarantees farmers a piece of the action.
And the biofuel strategy is in the works.
“I can’t give you the roll-out date on that,” he said. “I know the components of it. Part of the decision is whether there has to be one package all one day or whether we can roll it out in stages. I and the cabinet are going to have to make (a decision) quickly as I realize time’s a’ wasting.”
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
In a House of Commons speech during debate on the government’s Clean Air Act Dec. 4, Strahl said renewable fuels offer farmers a promise of new markets and higher prices. The government has said that at least five percent of the fuel supply will have to be biofuels by 2010.
Strahl also has been advocating a biodiesel target separate from an ethanol target. Biodiesel typically is produced from canola while ethanol can use a variety of plant sources from grains to wood chips.
“Requiring the use of renewable fuels will send a strong signal that a viable market for ethanol and biodiesel will exist in Canada,” he said. “This signal is an important element in providing a stable investment climate to entice ethanol and biodiesel producers to invest in Canada with investments in renewable fuels production facilities and technologies that might otherwise flow to the United States.”
The agriculture minister told the Commons that the much-criticized Clean Air Act, with its commitment to regulations for renewable fuel content, is crucial.
“Canada’s Clean Air Act is essential to move forward on implementing this commitment to renewable fuels,” he said. “The growth of a strong renewable fuels industry will provide Canadian farmers with reliable domestic market opportunities for their products and provide them an important opportunity to stabilize their incomes.”
Challenged by a Bloc Québecois MP to be more aggressive in setting biofuel targets, the minister said the government could set higher targets such as a 10 percent biofuel content to gasoline, but they would be irrelevant. The domestic industry could not supply the product, ethanol would be imported and Canadian industry would not benefit.
At the grain sector seminar, Strahl said a booming biofuel market will be the foundation for a future boom in agriculture.
In response to pleas for more decisive legislative action, he said the reality of government is that things take time.
