STRENGTHENING ONTARIO’S ECONOMY BY INVESTING IN NORTHERN AND RURAL ONTARIO

Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008Ontario budget for Northern OntarioBy Government of Ontario

Strong, vibrant northern and rural communities are important to Ontario’s economic success and quality of life. These regions have great potential to contribute to Ontario’s innovative new economy, but they also face unique challenges that require a focused and coordinated response.
BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
In addition to investments in education and health care, this Budget provides $508.7 million in strategic initiatives over four years to create opportunities in northern communities and help to secure the region’s place in Ontario’s changing economy. Northern Ontario will benefit from:
$302 million over the next four years for new investments in northern highways
An acceleration of Business Education Tax (BET) rate cuts for northern businesses:
BET rates will be reduced more quickly in 85 northern municipalities, benefiting more than 30,000 businesses, resulting in total savings of more than $70 million over the next three years
Increasing funding from $60 million in 2007-08 to $100 million in 2011-12, for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation
$25 million to support the creation of a centre in Thunder Bay for research and innovation in the bio-economy focused on forestry
$15 million to support the establishment of a centre for invasive species management in Sault Ste. Marie
$9.7 million to complete funding of Ontario’s commitment of $14.7 million to develop a Molecular Medicine Research Centre in Thunder Bay
$27 million over three years for a new Distance Grant to assist with travel costs for postsecondary students in rural and remote areas
An additional $13 million in 2008-09 for enhancements to the Northern Health Travel Grant to help northerners access health care services
$450 million in the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative - $150 million in 2008, building on $300 million in 2007
$400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges to help communities outside Toronto.
The McGuinty government is also working with Aboriginal peoples and northern stakeholders on a Growth Plan for Northern Ontario. The plan will focus on achieving and sustaining growth, and creating opportunities to live, work and raise families in the north.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RURAL ONTARIO
The McGuinty government is working with rural communities and stakeholders to give them the opportunities they need to embark on a prosperous future. To further enhance opportunities for growth and support a high quality of life in Ontario’s rural communities, this Budget announces:
An additional $400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges outside Toronto
$30 million over four years to enhance broadband access in rural areas in southern Ontario, leveraging broadband infrastructure investment from private-sector businesses and public partners to grow and improve access to public services such as e-learning, e-health and e-government
$30 million increase over four years to the Rural Economic Development (RED) Program
$53 million over the next three years to add 50 more Family Health Teams by 2011-12, targeting rural and underserviced communities
Led by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the government is also working with stakeholders to develop the Eastern Ontario Development Fund
Proposing to expand the Land Transfer Tax exemption for transfers of the family farm to include transfers from family farm corporations to individual family members
In addition, rural communities will benefit from initiatives to support key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and forestry, and from Ontario’s commitment to develop the bio-economy.
ENVIRONMENT
$56 million over four years for the Pick Ontario Freshness strategy and the Ontario Farmers’ Market initiative, which will help Ontarians to buy locally
$7.5 million to the University of Western Ontario to support interdisciplinary research into chemicals and fuels made from agricultural resources.
ACHIEVEMENTS
North
These announcements build on existing investments in health, education and infrastructure that specifically address the north’s unique circumstances. They also enhance strategic support for key industries and research and commercialization that are helping to build on the north’s strengths and better position the region to seize the opportunities of the new economy. Examples include:
More than $1 billion has been made available to assist the forest sector since 2005
The first new medical school in Canada in over 30 years opened in 2005 - the Northern Ontario School of Medicine
$1.8 billion, five-year program to improve and expand northern highways as part of ReNew Ontario
More than $48 million invested in additional surgeries and exams in hospitals in the North East and North West Local Health Integration Networks since the launch of the Wait Time Strategy in 2003-04
$10 million to support a new Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation in Sudbury.
Rural
In addition to the initiatives announced in this Budget, there are a number of investments made by this government to further support rural communities to keep them competitive and expand their opportunities:
$298 million under the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund to help fund 280 infrastructure projects, including an Asset Management Program to help rural and small communities improve and increase their capacity to manage their infrastructure assets
Investments to help rural and small communities provide safe and reliable local infrastructure, including $140 million under the Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative for critical projects identified by communities
Funding to 68 small and rural hospitals in 2006-07 to address service gaps and maintain core services that support emergency care in their communities as part of the October 2006 Emergency Department Action Plan
$17 million in new annual funding in the 2007-08 school year under the $63 million Supported Schools Allocation for teachers and operating costs in schools with low enrolment that are too far apart to consolidate
The RED program, which in 2007-08 approved $18.4 million for 50 projects in three priority areas: improved access to health care services, revitalized communities and downtowns, and enhanced skills training
The Rural Connections Program, which invested $10 million in 2007-08 to assist 18 rural southern Ontario communities to implement broadband access
The Rural Summer Jobs Service, which in 2007 helped more than 3,800 students, aged 14 to 24, gain valuable experience and work skills.

Biofuel Booster Has a Point

Biofuel booster has a point TheStar.com - columnists - Biofuel booster has a point

March 24, 2008 Tyler Hamilton

Corn ethanol isn't sustainable. Corn ethanol is jacking up food prices. Corn ethanol isn't worth the energy that goes into producing it.

Okay, we get it already. Corn ethanol isn't a long-term path for making renewable fuels, but does that mean ethanol itself is a bad thing?

"I think there's a lot of disinformation out there," says Frank Dottori, founder and former CEO of Tembec Inc., the multibillion-dollar forest products company.

Dottori, a chemical engineer by training who describes himself as the "old retired guy," apparently has some unfinished work to do. Earlier this month he was announced as the new head of Greenfield Ethanol Inc.'s "cellulosic ethanol" division – that is, he's in charge of finding out how to make the renewable fuel out of wood chips, agricultural residues and municipal solid waste. Pretty much anything but a food crop like corn.

"I've been at this for 30-some years, looking at different ways of converting biomass into valuable chemicals and energy and fuels," says Dottori, explaining that after he retired in 2006 he was approached by Toronto-based Greenfield – the largest independent ethanol producer in Canada – about taking on the challenge.

"They wanted to move away from corn. They want to get into this cellulosic ethanol as the next step ... That's where the world has to go."
Right now, much of the ethanol world – at least in North America – is stuck on corn. Nobody would argue it's the perfect crop, and most would say it can't be relied on as the ethanol market grows. But Dottori also believes the current problems making headlines are being exaggerated.
"Corn is being blamed for the price of tortillas in Mexico, or driving up the price of food generally. But if you look at the price of oil, it's gone from $20 to $100, and everybody uses oil to do farming," he says. "I think that's a bigger part of the problem than ethanol."

He points to the fact that wheat prices hit a record high of $13.50 a bushel on Feb. 27. In the past year, wheat prices have jumped 180 per cent, much higher than the 31-per-cent hike seen with corn. We've seen a tripling of wheat prices in the past couple of years, and it's getting to the point where bakers are getting hammered with the high cost of flour sacks.
"Virtually no wheat goes into making fuel," says Dottori. "So I think there are people who rain on anything, and I don't think they've got their facts."

At the same time, most in the industry see the writing on the wall and view corn as merely a transition to a more sustainable approach. It's why Suncor Energy is working with Vancouver-based Lignol Energy Corp. to build a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in Colorado. It's why Royal Dutch Shell has invested in Ottawa-based Iogen Corp., which is building an ethanol refinery in Saskatchewan and another in Idaho.

Both Lignol and Iogen use enzymes to break down the cellulose in biomass and access sugars that are converted into ethanol.

Greenfield, meanwhile, announced this month he is partnering with Montreal-based Enerkem Technologies Inc., which has a "gasification" process that turns biomass and other organic materials into a synthetic gas that is later converted into ethanol. No enzymes required.
The two companies plan to design, build and operate commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants as part of a joint venture. The first plant location has already been selected – though the companies aren't disclosing where – and a second plant is in development.

"We've had a pilot plant since 2003 that has operated more than 3,000 hours, with feedstock as diverse as municipal solid waste, spent plastics, power poles, dried sludge and forest biomass," says Vincent Chornet, chief executive officer of Enerkem.
The company is currently building an industrial-sized facility in Westbury, Quebec that will process old wooden power poles from Hydro-Quebec.

Dottori said the plants Greenfield and Enerkem want to build will be 10 to 15 times larger, and located in urban centres. "If the Westbury plant works then we'll say, let's go with a bigger one."
What all these plants will attempt to show is that ethanol can be made from non-food crops and "waste" materials in a way that's sustainable over the long term and economical, particularly as the price of a barrel of oil creeps up.

Currently, ethanol producers have to pay, and lately dearly, for corn. But the owner of a cellulosic ethanol plant may, down the line, get paid to take waste products off someone else's hands. It flips around the economics of producing ethanol, in that the zero or negative cost of feedstock offsets the higher initial capital cost of building a cellulosic ethanol plant.
For example, Greenfield could get paid by a city like Toronto to take the material collected from our municipal green bin program. The ethanol produced could then be used in local transportation. No impact on cattle feed prices. No rioting Mexicans worried about tortilla scarcity. And the benefit of reducing our dependence on land fills.

"The general public is misinformed," says Chornet, adding that talk of cellulosic ethanol being a distant dream is far from reality. "What you're seeing now is entrepreneurial groups working away secretly on getting to market. I don't think it's many years away. I think it's very close."
Dottori admits that the first couple of plants will be expensive experiments. "The question is how do you scale it up and make it viable commercially. I think it's doable."
Tyler Hamilton's Clean Break appears Mondays. You may email him at thamilt@thestar.ca.

Demain, l’or boréal

Carburants, médicaments, cosmétiques, textiles : avec les arbres, on fera bientôt plus que des meubles. Les bioraffineries, planche de salut de la forêt québécoise ?
par Jean-Benoît Nadeaupublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008
EXCLUSIF!



Oubliez les scénarios catastrophe pour l’industrie forestière. D’ici 20 ans, les papetières seront devenues des bioraffineries, qui produiront, en plus du papier, des biocarburants, des polymères, des médicaments et divers sous-produits servant à la fabrication de pneus, de cosmétiques, de pièces autos, alouette ! Les vieilles scieries seront devenues des usines de maisons, de murs, de planchers et de toits préfabriqués, de cercueils, de meubles... Grâce aux progrès en sylviculture et en opérations forestières, les forêts pousseront plus vite. Et on fabriquera des biocarburants sur les chantiers eux-mêmes.


Bref, si les nouveaux sorciers de la forêt tiennent leurs promesses, l’avenir est dans le bois !
Ces nouveaux sorciers, ce sont les 650 chercheurs et techniciens de FPInnovations, le plus important institut de recherche forestière sans but lucratif au monde. La moitié de son budget de 100 millions de dollars provient de 500 entreprises privées ; le reste, des 14 gouvernements canadiens.


Ce qui se mijote dans les quatre centres de l’institut, c’est le contraire du cauchemar productiviste que dénonçait L’erreur boréale, de Richard Desjardins. Paprican, à Pointe-Claire, s’intéresse aux pâtes et papiers. Forintek, à Sainte-Foy, au bois de sciage, et Feric, à Pointe-Claire, à la foresterie. Quant au Centre canadien sur la fibre de bois, aussi à Sainte-Foy, il se livre à l’étude fondamentale de l’arbre à partir de la graine même. Leur mission : préparer des lendemains qui chantent aux régions forestières du Québec, durement éprouvées (voir « Carte bois »).


http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/or_boreal?mode=embed&documentId=080312130657-29558d370c594831ac8930a90901f749&layout=grey

La Suède roulera au bois

La Suède veut mettre fin à sa dépendance au pétrole. Pour y parvenir, elle mise sur les biocarburants issus de la forêt.

par Jonathan Trudelpublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008

Faire le plein avec de l’essence fabriquée à partir de copeaux de bois ? Ça pourrait bientôt devenir normal aux yeux des automobilistes suédois. À condition que l’usine-pilote que me fait visiter son superviseur, Stefan Johansson, remplisse ses promesses.

Nichée près de Värnamo, au cœur du Småland, région boisée du sud de la Suède où fut inventée la scie mécanique, cette usine a été construite dans les années 1990. On voulait alors tester une nouvelle technique de gazéification du bois destinée à améliorer les performances des centrales thermiques carburant aux résidus forestiers.

Fermée parce que trop coûteuse à exploiter, l’usine a aujourd’hui droit à une seconde vie. Et est investie d’une mission ambitieuse : contribuer à libérer la Suède de sa dépendance au pétrole. Le pays n’en possède pas.

« On a presque tout fait, depuis la crise pétrolière de 1973, pour réduire notre consommation, qu’il s’agisse de chauffer les résidences ou de faire fonctionner l’industrie et de produire de l’électricité, dit Kristina Jonäng, chef de cabinet du ministre de l’Environnement. Il faut maintenant s’attaquer au secteur des transports. »

Une commission mise sur pied et dirigée par l’ancien premier ministre social-démocrate avait fait grand bruit l’an dernier. On prévoyait que le pays ne dépendrait plus du pétrole d’ici 2020. Le nouveau gouvernement refuse de s’engager à respecter ce délai, mais souscrit au principe de l’« indépendance pétrolière ». Pour atteindre cet objectif, les biocarburants joueront un rôle clé. D’où l’importance du projet-pilote de Värnamo, financé par l’Agence suédoise de l’énergie et la Commission européenne.

Au lieu de produire de l’électricité, l’usine transformera des copeaux de bois en gaz synthétique, puis en biocarburants. La cellulose, tirée du bois, offre un meilleur rendement énergétique que les biocarburants de première génération à base de canne à sucre ou de maïs, comme l’éthanol. « Si on voulait faire rouler tous nos véhicules avec de l’éthanol fabriqué à partir de maïs, le pays ne serait pas assez grand pour contenir tous les champs qu’il nous faudrait », dit l’ingénieur Stefan Johansson, le géant blond aux yeux bleus qui supervise l’usine. Les forêts suédoises, par contre, suffiraient à étancher la soif des moteurs, selon les calculs des ingénieurs. « Nos forêts croissent plus vite que le rythme auquel nous les exploitons », dit Stefan Johansson. (On croit rêver…) L’excédent produit par cette croissance pourrait à lui seul combler la moitié des besoins en carburant du pays. Pour atteindre complètement l’objectif, il suffirait de fertiliser les forêts et de planter des espèces à croissance rapide.

Cette technologie ne réglerait évidemment pas les problèmes de la planète — tous les pays ne disposent pas de vastes forêts. Mais la Suède cherche à faire de cette initiative un autre symbole de sa préoccupation environnementale avant de présider l’Union européenne, en 2009. « Pour s’attaquer au réchauffement climatique, on ne peut pas tout faire seul. Il faut s’associer, dit Kristina Jonäng, du ministère de l’Environnement. On veut convaincre l’Inde, la Chine et les États-Unis de s’engager dans le traité qui remplacera le protocole de Kyoto. C’est plus facile d’avoir une position de force dans les négociations internationales quand on peut dire aux autres : “Voici ce qu’on a accompli, sans faire sombrer notre économie. Maintenant, vous, que pouvez-vous faire ?” »

Enerkem prépare la prochaine génération d’éthanol en Estrie

Son usine produira 5 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique par année par Alexis Beauchamp Voir tous les articles de Alexis BeauchampTexte mis en ligne le 4 mars 2008 à 16:16 Soyez le premier à commenter ce texte

L'usine d'Enerkem à Westbury, en Estrie.
Voir toutes les photos
Enerkem prépare la prochaine génération d’éthanol en Estrie
Son usine produira 5 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique par année
Les travaux de construction de la première usine industrielle d’éthanol cellulosique au Canada vont bon train, et l’usine d’Enerkem devrait ouvrir ses portes l’automne prochain.
Selon l’entreprise québécoise, l’usine de Westbury, près de Sherbrooke, sera l’une des premières installations industrielles d’éthanol cellulosique au monde. Contrairement à l’éthanol de première génération, qui utilise les céréales comme le maïs comme matière première, l’éthanol cellulosique est produit à partir des déchets urbains et forestiers. Les gains énergétiques et en matière de gaz à effet de serre sont donc beaucoup plus intéressants. Les GES pourraient s'avérer de 80 % moins importants que ceux générés par l'essence. Les réductions seraient plutôt de 15 % dans le cas de l’éthanol fabriqué à partir de maïs, selon une analyse du cycle de vie.Enerkem produira cinq millions de litres d’éthanol par année dans sa nouvelle usine, dont les travaux de construction ont commencé en octobre 2007. Elle utilisera du « bois urbain », soit des anciens poteaux de téléphones qui ne peuvent être recyclés.L’entreprise peut compter sur plusieurs investisseurs, dont le Fonds de solidarité de la FTQ, Braemar Energy Ventures et Rho Ventures. Enerkem a recueilli des investissements totalisant 20 millions de dollars, ce montant incluant les subventions gouvernementales, explique Marie-Hélène Labrie, d’Enerkem. L’usine de Westbury devrait mobiliser 60 % (12 M$) de ces fonds. Le volume annuel de 5 millions de litres de cette usine sera dix fois plus important que celui du projet-pilote mis sur pied par Enerkem. A terme, l’usine pourrait produire 50 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique.L’entreprise serait en pourparlers avec différents partenaires afin de s’assurer un approvisionnement en résidus forestiers et en matières résiduelles, dont la ville de Sherbrooke.Rappelons que l’entreprise ontarienne Iogen construira une usine en Virginie, qui devrait posséder une capacité de production annuelle de 68 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique. Partiellement subventionné par le Département américain de l’Énergie, le projet sera réalisé en partenariat avec Goldman Sachs et Shell.Pour aller plus loin :www.enerkem.com Enerkem

Presentation Made to MNR Northeast Regional Advisory Committee

The following is a presentation made to the Northeast Regional Advisory Committee for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The presentation was done on behalf of the Hearst Economic Development Corporation.

http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/regional_advisory_committee_presentation?mode=embed&documentId=080304211851-0b2ec88dfa744c97bdc8a6e453bca180&layout=grey