PETERBOROUGH, ON - From July 11-14, Senator Jerahmiel Grafstein, Chair and Member of Parliament for Peterborough Riding - Dean Del Mastro, Vice Chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group attended the National Governor’s Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

While the meetings dealt with a number of topics including education and health care, the primary focus of the discussions centred on energy. In particular, how could the United States ensure that it would have secure, safe and clean energy in the future in light of the growing demand for more oil and the high cost of obtaining it.

The discussions stressed that there were opportunities for businesses and the States to invest in research and development to produce new forms of energy as well as new technologies for clean power generation from existing energy sources such as coal. In this regard, MP Del Mastro noted that “Canada had much to offer and could share its extensive expertise in the area of carbon sequestration with the US which would make the burning of coal as a power source much cleaner than is presently the case”.

With regard to new energy technologies, it was stressed by delegates that there must be increased and sustained investment into developing methodologies such as wind and solar power if the United States was to become less dependent on oil in the future. It was also noted that while new sources of energy could help to alleviate oil dependence the US would still have to rely on foreign oil for the foreseeable future. Much concern was expressed by participants that this foreign dependence is concentrated in countries where there is political instability which could threaten future oil supplies. Senator Grafstein, in his discussions with State Governors, said that “Canada, which already supplies vast quantities of oil and gas to the United States, was in a unique position to continue to be a secure supplier of energy to that country”.

The conference concluded that there was no “silver bullet” to solve America’s energy challenges. What will be required is strong national and state leadership on this issue to bring forth new technologies and a renewed commitment to energy conservation. Both Senator Grafstein and MP Del Mastro stated to their US colleagues that “we believe that there is an important role for Canada to play in addressing these energy challenges within the North American context and both countries could work together to achieve a more secure energy future”.