Canada needs to reconcile our energy policy and energy development objectives with our commitments to reduce green house gases and other emissions. All citizens and sectors in Canada (manufacturing, transportation, and energy) will need to contribute to this. Pointing fingers at others for the solutions will not pass the maturity or reasonable person test! Likewise, a 'value-added' approach to our energy policy is needed to ensure that energy is upgraded in Canada to the fullest extent possible. For example, does it make sense to export vast quantities of natural gas to the United States while our petrochemical industry in Canada is starving of its natural gas 'feedstock'?

A comprehensive plan is needed to conserve energy and dramatically increase our energy efficiency. The is not the time to eliminate cost-effective programs like the EnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive which is achieving energy efficiency increases, on average of 30 percent. We need to reduce our reliance on conventional fossil fuels and accelerate the adoption of alternative renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. We need to decide what the role of nuclear power will be for Canada. Our governments need to support and encourage energy co-generation projects. The federal government needs to aggressively support the development and implementation of new energy technologies. These technologies are many and varied and include hybrid fuels, fuel cell and hydrogen technologies, biofuels (e.g. ethanol), clean coal, and technologies that will assist in the capture and sequestration of CO2, and assist with the recycling of the huge amounts of water that is used in the extraction of bitumen from Canada's oil sands. Other potentially attractive technologies abound.

Markets can deal with some of these challenges. But the federal government has a major contribution to make. Tax credits and deductions, grants, loan guarantees, cost sharing programs and other funding strategies - all of these have shown themselves effective in the past and can do so again in the future.

We are a country with a wealth of energy resources. Canada is the world's third largest producer of natural gas and exports about half of that production to the United States. We are the world's ninth largest crude oil producer - and increasing production from the oil sands will move us higher in this ranking. The United States is a major importer of our oil and gas. We supply them with about 17% of their oil imports and 16% of their gas consumption. During the past 15 years, Canadian gas exports to the United States have increased by 80 percent (forgetting for the moment the large volumes of natural gas used in the oil sands projects). We are a country rich also in hydro-electric capacity and uranium.

We should also be careful in Canada not to limit our energy options. More is better for consumers and businesses as long as the choices are environmentally sound. Let's keep 'clean coal', nuclear energy and LNG terminals in the mix.

Historically Canada has enjoyed a comparative advantage in energy - this is no longer the case. This change is exacting a toll on manufacturing jobs in Canada, especially in Ontario. The energy policy vacuum in Canada is resulting in higher and more volatile natural gas prices and electricity costs. Canadian businesses are less competitive as a result, and consumers are also feeling the pinch.

We hear much about the North American continental energy market, and how energy is the cornerstone of a strong Canada-U.S.A. relationship, but more is required to assert Canada's public interests in this discussion. Given the energy assets that Canada possesses and the understandable desire of the United States to diversify and stabilize its energy sources, it is easy to see why the U.S. sees a seamless North American energy market as an objective that is in their national interest. We need to ensure that Canada's national interests are equally served and not be timid about this. This can be done while still being sensitive to regional politics (please - not another National Energy Program!), and recognizing that Americans are our good friends and our largest trading partner. By the same token we cannot 'keep our heads in the sand' (no pun intended!). Some questions we need to contemplate -

This energy policy debate is needed in Canada - and the sooner the better.