Thursday's Federal budget saw the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper shift it's direction when it comes to energy, stepping away from the prospect of expanding the focus on the wind and returning to the more traditional options of nuclear and the tar sands of Alberta
The Conservative's have decided to dis-continuea $1.48 billion ecoEnergy program, which had as its target the prospect of generating 4,000 megawatts of energy from non-emitting sources by the year 2011.
In Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget of this week, the direction seems to be changing towards a potential increased expansion and reliance on nuclear options and a plan to develop carbon capture technology and capture emissions from the tar sands.
The apparent reduction in the importance given to non emission methods of energy generation, has many of the players in the nation's still incubating wind energy industry left disappointed and preparing to reassess their business plans and explore options outside of Canada.
Among the local programs that were listed on the ecoEnergy websiteare the Mount Hays wind farm project and the Naikun development off of Haida Gwaii, both of which were registered with the federal program.
With that funding set to dry up, they may need to rely more on the provincial government for incentives and signs that wind power still has a place on the agenda, when it comes to changes to our reliance on the old traditional methods of the day.
NaiKun currently is in a holding pattern awaiting further word from BC Hydro's Clean power call, if successful that would see the power produced off Haida Gwaii put into the provincial power grid and set in motion a number of construction jobs and operations jobs on the north coast.
With Ottawa preparing to turn off the financial incentives, it will be noteworthy to see if the business and operations plans for the the local projects change in any way, are abandoned, or if there is still enough of a financial reward on the horizon for the firms to push forward with their plans.
With a two month break to recalibrate (and maybe take in an Olympic event or two) now complete, the Conservatives finally got back to the business of governing the nation in this first week of March.
First with an interesting blue print delivered in the Speech from the throne, a lenghty bit of political theatre which already is getting a rewrite (so, okay, we won't rework the national anthem after all) and then, on Thursday, the real blue print for Stephen Harper's government, the Federal budget as presented by finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
With warnings that the days of spending are soon to come to a close, the Finance Minister, advised that the Conservatives were soon to begin the process of slowly closing the taps of stimulus, which will see only one more year of buffering for the economy before the Conservatives leave it to stand on its own.
Gone is the renovation bonanza for building supply stores, who found that 2009 was a banner year for the home improvement scene spurred on by the government's stimulus package of last year. Crown corporations may soon be sold off and a variety of other initiatives from the environment to alternative energy and foreign aid may be up for a review as well.
With the economy holding its own compared to many other locations in the world, the Conservatives seem rather confident to get back to their original talking points on the economy, that of less government intervention and a dedication to deficit reduction.
Finance Minister Flaherty is hopeful that Canada's lucky streak in all things financial continue on over the next few years, setting a target of 2014 to eliminate the federal deficit, based on the belief that Canada's economic performance is going to improve over the next four years.
To do its part the Conservatives believe that reigning in spending and selling off some Crown corporations will provide the foundation for that debt relief by their 2014-15 deadline.
They also plan on having government "live within its means", by putting a freeze on public servant salaries, administration and overhead costs, they belive that these moves will save them with 6.8 billion over the next five years.
That seems to be the theme that the Conservatives have decided on after one year of stimulus to battle a global recession, the general slowing down of the flow of money this year, with an election strategy to tackle the required deficit from the near two years of financial turmoil that will have ended by the time the next budget comes around.
For the short term, the prospect of that blue print having some shelf life seems solid, the Liberals didn't seem in any rush to send the nation to the polls over the budget and while the NDP and the Bloc stake out the ground against the Flaherty document, the Liberals for now have no desire to force an election over it.
And that's not really a surprise, beyond their own internal problems and the fact that Michael Ignatieff still has not registered high on the radar of Canadians, the simple fact is that with his budget, the Finance Minister has taken on much of the Liberal agenda from the days of Paul Martin as Finance Minister. A dedication towards the goal of a reduction of debt and providing the Conservatives don't get too far off that path, it may prove hard for the Liberals to find some room to move on the issues of Finances.
Time may actually work in their favour, should the economy not perform as Flaherty anticipates and the need for further and more draconian cuts arise, the Liberals then may be able to offer up a different path, but one that still addresses debt reduction.
As things stand for them at the moment, that's about the best scenario they can work with, while hoping that the Conservatives find more new and exciting ways to give Canadians cause to pause over any potential majority vote total.
Though that is not the advice that one pollster would give to the Liberals,Frank Graves of Ekos polling suggests that the Liberals should force an election this spring, before the Conservatives could benefit from any improving economic trends, though he seems to believe that it's more a case of Mr. Ignatieff not getting any better in the short term more than anything else.
The two month prorogation just passed, did seem to give Canadians time to question the Conservative plan, should the Prime Minister make the same mistakes further on in the year, the Liberals may yet take advantage of an opportunity to bring down the government, providing of course they have something better to offer the Canadian public, which at the moment is still a work in progress it would seem.
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