May 21, 2010

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome. Neil, thank you very much for having us here at the dealership this morning.

I'm always delighted to be in Vancouver, but this morning I'm especially pleased to be here. I often get to travel as part of my work obviously and I get a full appreciation of the fact that it's more than 7 200 km from here to St. John's on our other coast and we see in this dealership today that businesses such as Canadian Tire rely very heavily on heavy duty trucks to maintain inventory, to deliver services and parts to Canadians right across this country. Unfortunately, the emissions from those heavy trucks can have a negative impact on the environment.

That's why I'm pleased to be here with you today to share an announcement that sets out another key piece of our strategy to combat climate change in Canada-and, indeed, in right across North America.

I'm talking about new emission standards for heavy trucks that are such a crucial part of our export-driven economy

This past December, when I was in Copenhagen, we committed to reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by the year 2020. At that time we signed on to the Copenhagen Accord.

That target was deliberately aligned with that of the United States, something that just made sense because of our closely integrated economies.

Not long after coming back from Copenhagen on April 1, the Government took an important step towards meeting that goal by announcing our proposed regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and what are referred to as light duty trucks; and those regulations were completely harmonized with the United States and we announced them on the same date.

Canada's successes in developing cleaner, more efficient vehicles are widely recognized. In May, Dr. Ali Emadi of McMaster University was in fact appointed as the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Hybrid Powertrain, in recognition of extensive Canadian work on this field.

And my colleague, Minister Tony Clement, has recently announced that researchers at the University of Waterloo will receive support from the government. This investment will support significant, collaborative research and development activities to benefit the entire Canadian automotive sector.

We've also established something known as the Automotive Innovation Fund that will provide automotive firms with $250 million over five years in support of strategic, large-scale research and development projects to build innovative, greener and more fuel-efficient vehicles here in Canada.

And in addition, I can tell you that our work with the Major Economies Forum (MEF), is also worth mentioning. Together with the United States and other members of the MEF, we have developed a series of Technology Action Plans. And Canada is pleased, amongst the 17-member MEF, to have led the Technology Action Plan for Advanced Vehicles. This will contribute, amongst other things, to developing and deploying greener, and better-performing vehicles worldwide.

So by developing regulations for heavy-duty vehicles that are aligned with United States standards, we are continuing on that record of success. 

Just like passenger vehicles, manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks also operate in an integrated North American market-so a closely-harmonized approach makes sense for them. You'll be aware that, in the United States, today, President Obama has announced precisely the same approach which we are announcing today.

Of course it also makes sense for the industries that use these vehicles, such as the trucking sector. 

Heavy trucks are an important contributor to Canada's overall emissions: Heavy-duty trucks represent 6% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions.

And moreover, it needs to be noted that these emissions have been in fact increasing more rapidly than other sources of emissions-emissions from heavy-duty trucks increased by 63% from 1990 to 2007 as compared to a 26% overall growth rate in Canadian emissions during that same period.

These new regulations will apply to new heavy-duty vehicles and engines that are either manufactured or imported for sale into Canada. They will start between the 2014 and the 2018 model years.

The regulations will build on existing regulations that we have for air polluting emissions from heavy-duty vehicles under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

And over the coming months, we will work with trucking companies and manufacturers to develop these regulations. There will be extensive consultation with manufacturers, provinces and the entire industry.

And so while our regulations will be fully harmonized with those of the United States, we will make sure that we take into account certain unique Canadian considerations, including Canadian safety standards. For example, as a general rule Canadian trucks carry heavier loads. And this will be factored into the design of Canadian regulations.

I will be working closely with my colleague, the Minister of Transport, as we go forward. Other key departments of the Government of Canada, including Natural Resources Canada will be involved as well.

The objective, I should say, is to release a consultation draft of these regulations in late Fall of 2010.

Publication of regulations in the Canada Gazette, Parts I and II, would follow in 2011. And the implementation date for the regulations would be harmonized with that of the United States.

I am pleased to answer, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank very much for joining us here today. Thank you.