Layton: eliminate federal oil and gas subsidies

The Toronto Star:

Montreal — New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has once again proposed to eliminate federal subsidies to oil and gas companies and use the savings to fund green energy initiatives.

“The result of this subsidy is an increase in the greenhouse gases pumped out in Canada and a competitive disadvantage for businesses looking to build clean solutions and the new energy economy,” Layton said according to an advance copy of his speech.

The NDP proposed getting rid of subsidies to the fossil fuel sector ahead of the U.N. climate change conference in Cancun last November.

The subsidies artificially bring down the cost of production and increase the profit margin of oil and gas companies, the NDP argues, saying the money could be put to better use fostering development of the renewable energy industry.

The program announced Thursday would therefore use the more than $2 billion the NDP estimates the cutting of the subsidies would save the federal government every year to fund initiatives to boost the clean energy economy.

The NDP would use $1 billion annually to provide incentives for companies to invest in renewable energy projects such as solar hot water heaters and wind turbines in remote and Aboriginal communities.

The NDP would devote another $500 million to a green jobs fund to train renewable energy researchers, energy auditors and other people needed to work in the clean energy jobs, leaving a surplus of another $500 million per year from the subsidies savings.

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