With a grain terminal for a backdrop, Prime Minister Stephen Harper touted a biofuel plan yesterday to farmers in the heart of the Prairies, but there were few details of how it will be implemented.
    Harper visited the community of Strongfield to talk about the $1.5-billion investment to boost Canada’s production of biofuels.
    “With the transportation sector accounting for more than a quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas output, increasing the renewable fuel content in gasoline is going to put a real dent in emissions,” Harper told a crowd of about 250 people.
    “It’s estimated that the reductions will be equivalent to removing almost one million vehicles from the road,” he noted.
    However, a study by Frederic Forge of the Library of Parliament’s science and technology division has suggested regulations to promote biofuels will have “relatively minor impact” on reducing greenhouse emissions across Canada.
    The money originally was announced in the 2007 federal budget.
    Harper told reporters at the Gardiner Dam Grain Terminal that he couldn’t give details of exactly how the cash will flow, referring those questions to Agriculture minister Chuck Strahl.
    Strahl, who also was at the grain terminal, said the new detail is that program is being “stretched out” from seven to nine years.
    “It’s a seven-year program that gives incentives over a seven-year period, but it gives you up to two years to get into the program,” explained Strahl.
    He said the move is aimed at giving more companies time to build biofuel plants and still get the full seven years of benefits and incentives.
    “It’s what the industry’s asked for so that they get the chance to get their plants up and running,” he said.
    Final program details and information on the application process won’t be released until later this year.
    It was a campaign-style stop that created a lot of excitement in the village of Strongfield, where locals say a prime minister has not visited in some 49 years.
    Also yesterday, the Manitoba and federal governments announced they will spend $614,000 to expand the biodiesel testing laboratory at Manitoba Hydro’s East Selkirk plant.
    Ken Thomas, chair of the Manitoba Biodiesel Board, said it’s an important step forward for the industry.