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by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

Statement to the Ontario Legislature (Toronto)
“Environment Industry Day at Queen’s Park”

Ontario Legislature, Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON
Monday, November 28, 2005

(Check against delivery)

Mr. Speaker, today is Environment Industry Day at Queen’s Park – an opportunity for my colleagues to meet with some of Ontario’s boldest entrepreneurs, our environmental visionaries, and learn about this vital industry in our great province.

And what an industry it is. The provincial environment sector now includes more than 2,300 companies, with more than 60,000 jobs and revenues of almost $7 billion.

They are companies like Trojan UV, which uses ultraviolet light to treat drinking water. This technology has been adopted all over the world.

Another company here today is Hybridyne Power Systems, which is improving the efficiency of wind turbines so they capture more wind energy.

The potential growth of companies like these is almost unlimited.

I want to thank the Ontario Environment Industry Association (ONEIA) for organizing this day.

In particular, I want to thank Mark Vanderheyden, the Chair of ONEIA, and Ellen McGregor, Chair of Environment Industry Day. ONEIA is a valued partner in our mission of raising awareness about the incredible potential of made-in-Ontario products and services.

Mr. Speaker, in the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Steam is no stronger than it was a hundred years ago, but it is put to better use.”

There is still vast potential in the elements, it seems. Today that same statement is true of sunlight and wind power which indeed we are putting to “better use.”

It is true of new fuels that will let us power our cars with a bushel of corn or heat our houses with energy from methane from an old landfill.

New environmental technologies promote the values that business loves most.

They are efficient.

They create markets where none existed before.

They create value.

And perhaps most important, they are sustainable.

Ontario businesses understand implicitly, Mr. Speaker, that we have huge opportunities for growth in this sector.

Les enterprises de notre province comprennent d’emblée, M. le président, que les possibilités de croissance sont considérables dans ce secteur.

If government sets an example, business will rise to the challenge. Industry will find innovative solutions and technologies to meet our society’s needs in this most complex and fascinating time.

Of course, there is still more we can do to give Ontarians the choices they deserve – the necessary options for life in the 21st century – for our good health, the health of our communities and our province’s economy.

We must continue to harness and use our expertise and experience here at home – to make Ontario’s economy as productive and competitive as possible.

We need to share our accomplishments with others who can benefit from it, by marketing Ontario’s environmental know-how around the world.

Mr. Speaker, we all recognize the vital role of research and innovation. Of course, the Premier knows this best.

He has made this a priority by establishing a ministry for this very reason and I am proud to follow his lead and work with our partners to build and grow a culture of innovation within the environmental industry.

If Ontario is to have and keep the best and the brightest minds and the highest quality of life in the world, then we need to embrace innovation in every way.

Si nous souhaitons avoir et conserver les plus brillants cerveaux et la meilleure qualité de vie au monde, nous devons accueillir l’innovation sous tous ses aspects.

What’s good for the environment is good for business.

Companies that reduce their energy consumption help reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas while saving millions in electricity costs.

Companies that reduce packaging can cut costs by producing less waste.

And more and more, companies are finding that sustainability and social responsibility give them a competitive advantage.

Mr. Speaker, this week in Montreal, delegates from all over the world are gathering to address the enormous challenge of climate change.

I will join them next week and as Ontario’s new Minister of the Environment, I look forward to working alongside my colleague, the Honourable Minister of Energy, Donna Cansfield, in bringing Ontario’s message to the world.

This government has undertaken a number of initiatives that will not only help to improve Ontario’s air quality, but make a major contribution to Canada meeting its greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr. Speaker, if we have the world’s best environmental industry in Ontario but we don’t have the will to use it to its greatest potential, our potential is wasted.

Similarly, if people want to make environmental choices, but technology hasn’t caught up to their dream, they will be disillusioned.

Today, on Environment Industry Day, we need to spread the word that in Ontario there is both the will and the way. We have the spirit for change and the ability to enable it.

New, cleaner technology is allowing us to make hundreds of environmentally conscientious decisions. It could be as small as buying an energy efficient appliance, or as great as replacing our coal-fired electricity with newer, greener technology.

Every step is made possible by the continuous advances of the environmental industry.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to partner with the Ontario Environment Industry Association today and every day.

I am proud to be a part of a forward-thinking government, and I am proud to look ahead to a cleaner, greener 21st century.

I want to encourage my colleagues, if they have not already done so, to find an opportunity to hear how vital the association’s members are to the future of our economy and how they have and will continue to contribute to a cleaner, greener and healthier Ontario.

Thank you.

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