Government must take action on stalled energy efficiency efforts

HALIFAX -- The Conservative government must take bold action to ensure Nova Scotia does all it can to improve energy efficiency. Nova Scotia remains stalled in third place in the Canadian Energy Efficiency Policy Scorecard, released today.

“We need to think boldly about what we can do as a province around energy efficiency,” said NDP Natural Resources and Renewables spokesperson Claudia Chender. “We need clear, measurable plans for making our buildings more efficient, rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels for heating, and eliminating energy poverty, which is a huge problem in our province. There is an urgent timeline on this issue and we can not afford to be complacent.”

In the recently passed Environment Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act, the government voted down dozens of amendments that would have strengthened the law and improved Nova Scotia’s efforts. Specifically, the “lack of comprehensive energy efficiency goals” in that legislation was highlighted by the scorecard.

“It isn’t good enough to do our best -- we actually have to do what is required to contain global warming,” said NDP Leader Gary Burrill. “We need a focussed drive to ensure that Nova Scotia is not left behind in the growing green economy and we need the Conservatives to move on these priorities in an urgent way.”

The Nova Scotia NDP has called for a Green Jobs Plan that would help push our province forward in transitioning to a green, sustainable economy.

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