“Reliable, resilient and cost-effective energy has always been this country’s life force, and the foundation for a healthy economy and our great quality of life,” Michele Harradence, EVP and President, Gas Distribution and Storage, Enbridge Inc., said at the Empire Club of Canada on Tuesday.
“If we want to get serious about reigniting investment in Canada, we need to start with energy,” Harradence said at the Toronto event.
The need for energy investment is real. In Ontario, for example, electricity demand alone is now forecast to increase a whopping 75 percent over the next 25 years. In late August, Ontario launched the largest competitive energy procurement in the province’s history, as part of what it calls an “all-of-the-above” energy resource approach.
During her address, Harradence noted that less than two weeks ago, Ontario Minister of Energy and Electrification Stephen Lecce appeared at the Empire Club of Canada and talked about the government’s plan to make the province an energy superpower.
“And he made a point of saying that we need to leverage private capital to build our energy systems for the next generation. We at Enbridge are all in favour. We’ve been invested in this province’s success for more than 175 years and we want to keep that up,” Harradence said.
Investing in reliable, resilient, cost-effective energy, and that includes natural gas, “is how we will grow our critical manufacturing sector, how we will support our burgeoning greenhouse sector, how we will underpin our mining sector as the global need for critical minerals continues to soar,” she said.
Harradence highlighted three crucial areas of focus to encourage energy investment:
• Simplify the regulatory burden on the energy sector.
• Simplify the complexity of both the tax and incentive systems.
• Encourage efficient economic incentives right across the energy sector.
“If we can get these three elements working, and working together cohesively, they can be magnets that actually help attract investment,” said Harradence, who also had a conversation with Hannah Thibedeau, Executive Communications Officer with Global Public Affairs.
“The opportunities are out there, and the stakes have never been higher," Harradence added.
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