Time to play politics Pushing Canada’s bioeconomy forward will take political support hile looking through my notes from the International Bioenergy Conference in Prince George, I found a quote from Ken Shields, CEO of CanBio: “Who’s responsibility is it to hold the government’s feet to the fire?” I also noted that it will be policy that moves the bioeconomy forward. One of the biggest chal-lenges facing the bioecon-omy is access to feedstock. Shields and WPAC’s execu-tive director, Gord Murray, started a heated exchange on fibre access during that same session, moderated by our own Scott Jamie-son. The same can be said for some of Canada’s biofuel producers, who bid on feedstocks from hundreds or thousands of miles away when local re-sources just aren’t available. But I am not so sure that fibre avail-ability is still the bioeconomy’s biggest hurdle. The focus of our industrial part-ners from coast to coast has been on meeting the demands of markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia. At the same time, the industry hopes that domestic policy will change to finally open the doors to sales of notable volumes on home soil. Perhaps it is time for us to shift our focus. Our national bioeconomy stakehold-ers need to work on a united push to change government policies in Canada to establish a domestic market. There is currently no greater area for the industry to grow than here at home, even when considering the likely continued growth of international markets. That isn’t to say that associations across Canada haven’t tried to engage municipal, provincial and federal govern-ment officials. Groups like WPAC and the BIOMASS CANADIAN Volume 14 No. 5 Editor -Amie Silverwood (289) 221-8946 [email protected] Associate Editor -Andrew Macklin (905) 713-4358 [email protected] Contributors -Staffan Melin, Treena Hein, Gordon Murray, Guillaume Roy, Annie Webb, Gabrielle Bauer, Christopher Rees, Christina Coutu. Editorial Director/Group Publisher -Scott Jamieson (519) 429-3966 ext 244 [email protected] Market Production Manager Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] National Sales Manager Ross Anderson Ph: (519) 429-5188 Fax: (519) 429-3094 [email protected] Quebec Sales Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] Western Sales Manager Tim Shaddick [email protected] Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Media Designer -Brooke Shaw Canadian Biomass is published six times a year: February, April, June, August, October, and December. Published and printed by Annex Business Media. Printed in Canada ISSN 2290-3097 Circulation Carol Nixon email: [email protected] P.O. Box 51058 Pincourt, QC J7V 9T3 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $49.50; 2 Yr $87.50; 3 Yr $118.50 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $60 US; Foreign – 1 Yr $77 US Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-re-lated groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publica-tion may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission ©2014 Annex Business Media, All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca W CRFA, to name just two, have consistently updated their membership on work be-ing done in consultation with govern-ment officials or in meetings with gov-ernment stakeholders. But it is clear that the work done to this point simply hasn’t been enough to launch a domestic bioen-ergy market. So how do we progress? I spoke to CanBio VP Brent Boyko from OPG Ati-kokan on this very issue. We discussed how easy it is to fall in the trap of just inviting sitting politicians, rather than reaching out to politicians from all parties when an important confer-ence or meeting takes place. Sure, no one wants to have the bioeconomy bounced around like a political football, but invit-ing politicians from all political stripes creates the potential for discussion in the hallways among the provincial and feder-al governments. But there is a need to make sure that there are clear objectives, strong facts, statistics and benefits for pushing the bio-economy forward. We have seen how eas-ily the industry can come into question; we need to be clear and accurate in pre-senting arguments to politicians to ensure that they don’t fall on deaf ears. It is time for industry leaders to pres-ent a united front, with legitimate action items signed off by multiple stakeholders to provide the necessary clout. Without a consistent, unified voice in Ottawa and our provincial capitals, we will continue to be overlooked. 6 Canadian BIOMASS
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