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Tide could be turning in Canada’s energy future

The Clean Energy Act intent to develop emerging energy resources like wave, tidal and river current seems to have withered on the vine.

To the Editor,

Re: Country’s coasts far apart on energy, Opinion, June 25.

In case anyone thinks that the ‘can do’ eastern energy excludes moving on renewables, it is perhaps worth pointing to Nova Scotia’s strategy to be part of leading a world tidal industry.

Late this year, the first tidal generators will begin a 10,000-homes pilot development. The vision is that tidal energy may eventually match all of the rest of the province’s energy generation and be ready for a recovery in U.S. clean electricity markets.

Contrast this to B.C. where the world’s first utility wave power research projects were cancelled in 2001 and the Clean Energy Act intent to develop emerging energy resources like wave, tidal and river current seems to have withered on the vine. Indeed our legislature has had to classify natural gas as clean energy in order to facilitate LNG plant planning.

I hope that the reboot of the climate action team can at least get to where we were a few years ago, a point where our traditional industries were able to use our clean electricity commitments in marketing B.C. products.

Chris CampbellNanaimo