Canada may have oil, but the country is falling dangerously behind in energy innovation, the Globe and Mail reports. A new study by the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto shows that Canada is by no means an “energy superpower” due to slow development of technology and “fragmented” government policies and programs.
Mowat Centre director Matthew Mendelsohn told reporters that the world market is evolving, and that Canada will have to produce cleaner forms of energy to keep up with the shift in demand. He says Canada should put new, greener technology at the centre of a new national energy strategy.
Mendelsohn also supports the suggestions put forward in the 2011 Jenkins report on research and development spending, which urges more direct government funding of technology development and less emphasis on tax credits.
While the Canadian government has invested a great deal into technology development, the country continues to have a poor track record of technology innovation and a growing technology trade deficit.