Wind Energy Conference Ignored by Mr. Harper

Submitted by a Fundy Royal NDP Volunteer

A news report today on News 88.9 caught my attention as I was driving home. It stated that the World Wind Energy Conference was being held this week in Kingston, Ontario. Private and public sector representatives from all over the world were attending the conference, which was being held in North America for the first time in history.

A quick look at the website at http://wwec2008.com/ shows that the conference is being hosted and heavily sponsored by the Ontario government, and is being attended by government officials from all over the world. Unfortunately, despite numerous invitations, not a single representative from Stephen Harper's Environment office chose to attend the conference, which was called to discuss "the role of community power in building a robust renewable energy industry and strategies [that] strengthen local project control and economic returns within the community."

The World Wind Energy Association is a forward-thinking organization that advocates global co-operation to deal with the challenges of wind power generation. Its mission statement can be found here: http://www.wwindea.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=29. It is quite upsetting that when such an important and exciting event comes to Canada, our own federal government not only refuses to sponsor and promote the conference, but that it cannot even find the time to send a representative to discuss environmental issues with experts from around the world. This is especially disappointing due to the fact that the conference was called to discuss issues of community wind power generation, something that will make alternative energy more accessible and affordable to ordinary working families across the country.

As concerned Canadians, we must to hold Harper to task on his environmental record (or lack thereof). We cannot afford to have our voices ignored on the world stage in this critically important battle.