Where is B.C.'s leadership on climate change?
Moving first can be risky. Doubt says leaping into the clean energy economy is like coming to the edge of a mountain pool and you cry "let's jump in!" and everybody responds "great idea!", so you bound into the air and just before landing in the water you turn and see that nobody has followed.
The B.C. Liberals need not worry. While they've been asleep at the wheel, the clean energy pool is now teeming with swimmers. Ontario has the fastest growing clean tech sector in Canada, with $8 billion in revenue, 3,000 companies and 65,000 employees. Ontario has committed over $575 million in over 1,500 research and commercialization projects related to clean technology and the bio-economy since 2003.
While the BC government frets about Canada "getting too far ahead" on carbon initiatives, The "Big Three" - China, India and the U.S. - are now responsible for 54 percent of global investment in renewable energy.
Moving first can be risky, but it also offers opportunity. Be it by market forces or policy intervention, the world is on its way to decarbonizing. To succeed in this new world, B.C. needs true leadership from a government willing to make the leap.
Come on in. The water's fine.
Dona and Paul Grace-Campbell
Kaslo, B.C.
