Created in association with SME’s Tooling U, Knowledge Edge features 16,000 technical papers, more than 1,200 e-books and 700 videos in a web-based encyclopedia that makes access to peer-reviewed manufacturing know-how a click away.

“While (online) searches yield a wealth of information, there is little standard as to what’s posted and what can be trusted,” SME director of professional development Jeannine Kunz said in a statement.

“Knowledge Edge relies on SME members, longstanding industry professionals and SME’s trusted manufacturer customer base to provide a reliable source of manufacturing information online.”

To learn more about Knowledge Edge, log on to the Tooling U website and request a demo of the subscription-based service.

Released by industry association Sous-Traitance Industrielle Québec (STIQ), the Baromètre industriel québécois study found 56 per cent of small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the province experienced revenue growth of at least five per cent last year.

Those numbers matched the study’s 2011 results, according to STIQ.

The study found 36 per cent of SMEs increased their respective number of employees by five per cent in 2012.

2012 was a very active year for many Québec-based prime contractors, especially in industries with highly-structured supply chains, such as aeronautics, transportation, mining and electrical energy.

The study shows manufacturers were able to capitalize on this dynamism and increase their sales volumes with prime contractors.

In 2012, 44 per cent of SMEs attributed more than 25 per cent of their sales to prime contractors, compared with 36 per cent in 2011.

Meanwhile, 49 per cent of respondents saw at least a five per cent rise in sales attributable to prime contractors, against 44 per cent in 2011.

Despite the solid numbers, SMEs in Québec could have sustained even higher growth in 2012 by investing more in research and development and acquiring advanced equipment, according to STIQ.

Only 55 per cent of firms invested more than two per cent of their revenues in R&D, while 68 per cent spent more than two per cent on equipment purchases.

In its export forecast for the province, Export Development Canada (EDC) said huge increases in B.C.’s global exports in 2013 and 2014 will push it to the top of the pile.

Delivering the forecast in back-to-back speeches in Victoria, B.C., and Vancouver, EDC chief economist Peter Hall predicted the province’s exports will grow by 11 per cent this year, followed by another 12 per cent in 2014.

“British Columbia’s exports are on track for a vibrant expansion, sharing top spot among the provinces with Nova Scotia,” Hall said. “B.C. is enjoying an exceptional recovery in forestry and very strong gains in ores and metals. Following recent ups-and-downs, B.C. is in an international sales sweet spot this year and next.”

The forestry sector accounts for approximately 32 per cent of the province’s international sales, the largest share of B.C.s total.

Hall predicted that provincial exports of forestry products will grow by 25 per cent in 2013 and another 17 per cent in 2014, this after only two per cent growth in 2012.

“Forestry exports are set to experience impressive growth, with demand and prices for lumber driven upwards by rising U.S. housing starts that are expected to expand by 34 per cent in 2013 and 24 per cent in 2014. Those are big numbers,” Hall said.

“The recovery of China’s construction sector will also add momentum. Looking forward, though, supply constraints will start to emerge after 2014, suggesting potential for significant investment in lumber capacity.”

The energy sector is also an important contributor to the province’s export picture, accounting for 27 per cent of total international sales.

EDC’s forecast predicts a four per cent decline this year, ahead of 10 per cent growth in 2014.

The forecast also noted that the recovery in the United States will mean solid growth for the province’s machinery and equipment producers and agri-food sales through 2014.

Nationally, Canadian merchandise exports are forecast to rise nine per cent in 2013 and five per cent in 2014, while economic growth (GDP) is expected to rise 2.2 per cent this year and 1.9 next year.

EDC is forecasting global growth of 3.5 per cent in 2013 and 4.2 per cent in 2014.

The small First Nation of Hartley Bay says the crew showed up uninvited to carry out work on a project that has not been approved—and that the Gitga’at continue to oppose.

Coun. Marven Robinson says Calgary-based Enbridge, the proponent of the 1,600-kilometre pipeline and oil tanker port, has “screwed-up” relations with First Nations and continues to do so.

Consultation with native bands has been a major stumbling block for the $6-billion project that would connect the Alberta oil sands to Asian markets.

Many in the industry are hopeful that a surprise Liberal victory in B.C.’s provincial election this week renews hope that the much-maligned project may yet go ahead.

The federal review panel weighing the project will begin hearing final arguments next month in Terrace, and must issue its report to the federal government by the end of the year.

According to ATCO Structures and Logistics, a subsidiary of Alberta-based energy and utilities giant ATCO, it has been awarded a sub-contract from engineering and project management firm Bechtel to supply the buildings for the Chevron-operated Wheatstone LNG project in western Australia.

The contract kicked off last month.

The company expects to create 137 new jobs, including 42 manufacturing jobs in Perth and Brisbane, Australia, and 95 jobs based on-site at Ashburton North, 12 kilometres west of Onslow in western Australia.

The new roles created on site include engineering, plumbing, carpentry, electrical trades, general labouring and administrative positions.

According to ATCO, the agreement also supports 70 existing manufacturing, in-house subcontractor and support staff positions.

The units will be built at ATCO’s manufacturing facilities in Brisbane and Perth.

The 150,000 sq. ft. facility in Perth is the newest addition to ATCO’s construction operations in Australia.

The plant is expected to be fully operational in September 2013 and will supply approximately 60 per cent of the required units for the Wheatstone Project.

ATCO’s portion of the manufacturing work is expected to begin in July 2013 and completion is scheduled for the end of the second quarter of 2014.

This is ATCO’s fourth major contract win supporting LNG projects in Australia.

In 2011 and 2012, ATCO delivered three large workforce housing projects for LNG facilities on Curtis Island, providing more than 6,000 beds for workers constructing LNG terminals.

As part of the 15th annual Gas Tax Honesty Day, the federation encourages citizens to lobby against charging tax-on-tax for gasoline and diesel.

Alberta director Derek Fildebrandt says even without a provincial sales tax, residents of the province pay roughly $80 million a year or $15 per fill-up.

Fildebrandt says citizens must also keep things from getting worse by keeping provinces and municipalities from continually looking to new or higher gas taxes as a quick fix for pet projects.

Check out the report here.

©The Canadian Press

Simply imposing emissions targets or trying to cap economic growth to reduce emissions isn’t going to work, Harper said during a question-and-answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“I am convinced that, over time, we are not going to effectively tackle emissions unless we develop the lower-emissions technology in energy and other sectors,” he said.

“That is the thing that will allow us to square economic growth with emissions reduction and environmental protection. I’m convinced if we cannot square those, we are not going to make progress globally.”

Any realistic international agreement to limit emissions has to cover everyone, not just the developed world, he added.

“We need a mandatory, international protocol that includes all significant emitters and if we do not get that we will not be able to control global emissions.”

Over the course of the hour-long session, a relaxed-looking Harper discussed climate change, the Keystone XL pipeline and Alberta’s oilsands, as well as medicare, border issues, the Middle East and the perils that bedevil the global economy.

He waved off the concerns of environmental critics as he pitched the TransCanada pipeline project as a good thing for the United States that would, if approved, create thousands of jobs and reduce American reliance on offshore oil.

“One needs to put this is a global perspective,” Harper said. “Less than one tenth of one per cent of global emissions are in the oilsands. it’s almost nothing globally.”

It will, however, play a major role in Canada’s own emissions-reduction targets, he conceded.

Harper’s pitch for Keystone XL, which would carry bitumen from the Alberta oilsands to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, included a warning.

“The only real, immediate environmental issue here is, do we want to increase the flow of oil from Canada via pipeline or via rail? If you don’t do the pipeline, more and more is going to be coming in via rail, which is far more environmentally challenging.”

The Obama administration is mulling over whether to approve the project; Harper refused to speculate on which way the White House might lean.

He did, however, put in a plug: “I think all the facts are overwhelmingly on the side of approval of this.”

Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, Harper is expected to stress that Canada is halfway towards meeting its greenhouse gas emissions target. Many people in both countries, however, are wondering about the other half.

As the Obama administration ponders the TransCanada Corp. proposal to build the Keystone XL pipeline to link the oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries, Harper’s government is trumpeting the steps it has taken to ensure pipeline safety, cut emissions and monitor oil sands pollution.

In advance of the prime minister’s Q-and-A with the council, the federal government took out ads in major US publications and fired up a new website to promote its sector-by-sector regulatory approach to reducing emissions.

“With these and other means, Canada is honouring its United Nations commitment under the Copenhagen Accord to a 17% reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2020,” the website says.

“We estimate that as a result of our collective actions taken to date, Canada is already halfway toward closing the gap between what our emissions had originally been projected to be in 2020, and where we need to be to meet our Copenhagen target.”

But critics, including Environmental Defence Canada, Equiterre, Forest Ethics Advocacy, Greenpeace Canada and the US Natural Resources Defence Council, have set up their own internet soapbox.

They say TarSandsRealityCheck.com “presents peer-reviewed, easy to understand facts about the devastating impacts of the tar sands on climate, economy, human rights, land and species, air and water.”

The trouble with Harper’s “halfway” claim is that it lumps together all the measures both provincial and federal governments have taken and the cumulative effect they will have on emissions by 2020.

Numerous analyses suggest that closing the rest of the gap will take a near miracle, or some kind of national carbon pricing program.

The federal Conservatives reject carbon pricing, although many provinces have already headed in that direction, either on their own or to comply with federal regulations.
Something will have to give.

Oil and gas are the largest source of emissions growth. Federal, provincial and industry officials have been negotiating for months to produce a plan that would curb emissions at a cost that does not disadvantage the industry.

But none of the scenarios will take Canada anywhere near meeting its 2020 target, analysts say.

Environment Minister Peter Kent, meanwhile, is looking at the handful of sectors not yet regulated. Commercial and residential buildings are key, he said in a recent interview, adding that he’s also hoping for international action in the aviation sector.

Canada, he also noted, is now getting credit for reforestation efforts. But none of those this will give Canada more than a few megatonnes of carbon reductions each by 2020, well short of the needed 100 megatonnes.

Canada could buy emissions credits from cash-short developing countries, but the government isn’t keen on that option.

The Conservatives have also rejected suggestions that they limit emissions by freezing oil sands development and pipeline construction.

The International Energy Association said it expects oil sands production to increase by 1.3 million barrels a day by 2018, to a total of about 5 million a day.

© 2013 The Canadian Press

The independent Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) is awarding the funding to eligible projects that reduce emissions during extraction, preparation, upgrading, refining and other processing of fossil fuels, including petro-chemical conversion.

“Alberta has a wealth of energy resources and we are striving to find innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to fossil fuel production,” CCEMC chairman Eric Newell said in a statement.

“This is one more way that the CCEMC is supporting Canada’s efforts to become a leader in energy production and cleaner technology.”

According to the organization, successful applicant projects will show strong potential to make significant, verifiable and sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The CCEMC funds projects through grants, and seeks reduced greenhouse gas emissions as a result of its investment.

Supported technologies are expected to be commercialized and broadly deployed into the marketplace.

The maximum the CCEMC will contribute to an individual project for this call for proposals is $10-million, and up to one half of a project’s eligible expenses.

The CCEMC will not match other government funds.

Established in 2007, Alberta facilities that annually produce more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are legally required to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity.

Companies have four options to meet their reduction targets: improve the efficiency of their operations; buy carbon credits in the Alberta-based offset system; purchase emission performance credits; or pay $15 into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund for every tonne over a facility’s reduction limit.

Funding is then distributed to the CCEMC by the Alberta government.

Initial submissions are due by September 27.

But, observers say the odds for Northern Gateway and the Trans Mountain expansion moving ahead are still rather slim.

Warren Mabee, a professor at Queen’s University, says the Liberals’ support for pipelines is highly conditional and doesn’t amount to a “green light.”

He says, to his knowledge, B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s five conditions have not been met by Enbridge Inc., the company planning to build Northern Gateway.

And Mabee says disagreements between Clark and her Alberta counterpart, Alison Redford, over sharing the economic benefits of the pipelines remain unresolved.

Eric Swanson with anti-pipeline group the Dogwood Initiative says the B.C. government is just one player in the pipeline debate, and with First Nations and municipal governments remaining staunchly opposed, the projects still face an uphill battle.

In Edmonton to deliver a provincial export forecast, Export Development Canada (EDC) chief economist Peter Hall predicted Alberta’s exports will surge by nine per cent in 2013 and another six per cent in 2014.

“Alberta’s export story over the next two years will be determined by both the capacity to ship crude oil and pricing of natural gas. Conditions will be helped by a dollar that’s eased back from parity,” Hall said in his forecast to Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters (CME) members.

The energy sector dominates Alberta’s exports, accounting for approximately 73 per cent of the province’s total international sales

Hall predicted that provincial exports of energy products alone will grow by nine per cent this year, followed by another seven per cent in 2014.

Those numbers will come, he said, after the energy sector experienced growth of only two per cent in 2012.

“While global crude prices have stabilized, Alberta’s crude has been sharply discounted because of tight transportation capacity constraints,” Hall said.

According to Hall, the price gap between West Texas Intermediate and Western Canadian Select crude earlier in 2013 averaged around $20 per barrel, which adds up to about $16-billion in annual losses.

While a combination of increased rail capacity and Canadian pipeline repurposing has boosted shipments and arrowed the price gap, Hall said capacity constraint still pose a threat to the sector.

In other areas, the continued economic recovery in the United States is expected to help the machinery/equipment and forestry sectors, with industrial activity in the U.S. spurring equipment sales and a resurgent U.S. housing market boosting lumber exports.

EDC’s forecast noted that other export categories will perform well this year, but 2014 will be more of a mixed outcome.

Fertilizer prices are predicted to slip a notch, even though Alberta is expected ship more this year.

Metals and minerals will be up considerably in 2013, but chemicals will grow at a slower rate.

Nationally, Canadian merchandise exports are forecast to rise nine per cent in 2013 and five per cent in 2014, while economic growth (GDP) is expected to rise 2.2 per cent this year and 1.9 next year.

EDC is forecasting global growth of 3.5 per cent in 2013 and 4.2 per cent in 2014.

The bill would prohibit drilling, hydraulic fracturing—also known as fracking—as well as injection tests.

Environment Minister Yves-Francois Blanchet tabled the legislation in the national assembly on Wednesday.

The moratorium would last for five years or until new regulations on shale gas exploration are in place.

In February, Blanchet announced he had ordered the provincial agency on environmental public hearings to look into the impact of the shale-gas industry.

He says the bill makes the moratorium official.

Although fracking is carried out by companies in the Gaspe and on Anticosti Island, Blanchet said the decision to limit the moratorium to the St. Lawrence lowland came because of opposition by residents to the exploration process.

The minority Parti Quebecois government will have to get the support of one of the other parties in the legislature for the bill to pass.

Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said the government should wait for the results of the public hearings.

He accused the government of “managing by moratorium.”

Coalition Leader Francois Legault said the government is trying to please its supporters with a position based more on ideology than science.

After repeatedly rebuffing calls for an apology for the Liberals’ decisions to cancel the gas plants to save seats in the 2011 election, Wynne finally went further than saying she regrets the government didn’t pick the right spots for the energy projects.

“I’m sorry about the decisions that were made,” Wynne told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“I’m sorry about the mistakes that the government made in locating the gas plants in the places that we did in the first place, and I’m sorry that it cost so much money, so many public dollars, to relocate them.”

However, the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats were not impressed with Wynne’s mea culpa, which they said should have come much sooner.

“You’re sorry you got caught,” PC energy critic Vic Fedeli said to Wynne in the legislature.

“Premier, Ontarians want more than a hollow apology. They want a refund. Will you order the Liberal party to pay the money back?”

NDP leader Andrea Horwath was also critical of the premier’s apology.

“It is a day late and a buck short,” Horwath told Wynne.

“The money has already been wasted and the scandal has already happened, and now we need to make sure that it never happens again.”

It’s surprising that Wynne didn’t offer the apology in the legislature, added Horwath.

“I think it would have gone a lot further had she actually done that here in the chamber with the MPPs, (apologized) to the people of Ontario in their house,” she said.

Wynne couldn’t say what finally triggered her decision to apologize, but said she realized people wanted to hear her take responsibility for the gas plant decisions.

“I was hearing that there still needed to be my voice taking that extra piece of responsibility to apologize for the mistakes that we made, because we had said that there were mistakes that had been made,” she said.

“I was hearing that call for an apology.”

The opposition parties accuse the Liberals of intentionally misleading the public about the true cost of cancelling the gas plants.

In addition to demanding a judicial inquiry into the gas plants, the Conservatives’ are also trying to get the legislature to debate a non-confidence motion in the minority Liberal government.

Unlike most jurisdictions, the government can block opposition non-confidence motions in Ontario, so the Tories moved another motion asking the legislature to call their “want of confidence” motion for a debate.

The NDP have been just as critical of the Liberals for cancelling the gas plants, and should support the Tory motion, said PC house leader Jim Wilson.

“I hope that the NDP will vote in favour of our motion to schedule a vote of confidence in the Ontario legislature,” said Wilson.

“(The) vote will signal whether the NDP intends to prop up this scandal-ridden government once again.”

Wynne told the legislature the upcoming vote on the budget will be the best opportunity to express confidence, or a lack of it, in her government.

“Clearly the members opposite want to have the opportunity to vote on a confidence motion,” she said.

“The budget is the confidence motion that I believe is extremely relevant to the lives of people in Ontario.”

The gathering in downtown Kunming—the second one in the city this month—was largely peaceful, though there were minor scuffles with police.

Witnesses said at least two people were briefly detained, though it was noteworthy that authorities—apparently eager to appear open and inclusive—made no effort to shut down the rally.

A city vice-mayor, He Bo, even tried to meet with the demonstrators, but his attempts to explain the refinery project to the crowd were cut short by the cries of a protester.

Kunming officials said the refinery planned by powerful state company PetroChina Co. will meet environment standards and is crucial for the local economy, but residents are worried about the air and water pollution that will result.

“We don’t need speedy development. What we need is a healthy and peaceful country,” Kunming resident Liu Yuncheng said. “I still haven’t given birth to a baby. I want to be pregnant and I want a healthy baby.”

But while police allowed the protest to proceed, censors scrubbed posts in China’s social media that were critical of the project planned by the powerful state Petro China Co., and employees of state companies were asked to promise not to participate in any rally or talk about the project in public venues or online.

The scene in Kunming was in contrast to a planned protest against a petrochemical plant earlier this month in the city of Chengdu , where authorities thwarted the gathering by flooding the streets with police in a supposed earthquake drill, reflecting the balancing act of Chinese officials as they seek to promote economic growth while maintaining social stability.

Members of China’s public, especially among the rising middle class, have become increasingly outspoken against environmentally risky factories, in reaction to a decade of development-at-all-costs policies that have polluted the country’s air and waterways.

However, they have virtually no say on industrial projects, and have instead turned to organizing protests.

Several of those turned violent last year, in some cases prompting local governments to scrap plans for factories.

In response to a May 4 protest by Kunming residents, local government officials and PetroChina held a series of public meetings and promised that operations at the $3-billion refinery would be environmentally clean.

The facility is expected to produce up to 10 million tons of refined oil annually.

But officials also said the project’s environmental evaluation report remains confidential, aggravating a public already upset with a lack of information about the project.

Kunming Mayor Li Wenrong was quoted in state media last week as saying the public’s opinion would be taken into account in a democratic way in the approval process for another upcoming project—plans to build factory that would produce p-xylene, a toxic chemical used in the production of polyester and other materials.

The refinery is connected to operations of the upcoming Myanmar-China pipeline, which originally was due to start pumping oil and gas at the end of this month after eight years of planning and construction.

China has invested heavily for access to resources from neighbouring Myanmar and to establish a new, shorter route for the procurement of oil and gas, as an alternative to shipping routes.

Opposition to the pipeline has been strong on both sides of the border.

Myanmar officials recently said its operations would be delayed.

The deal with TC Pipelines LP, one-third owned by TransCanada, involves the Bison and GTN pipelines.

The sale is expected to close in July.

The Bison pipeline connects gas from the US Rocky Mountain region to TransCanada’s Northern Border system in North Dakota.

GTN moves Western Canadian and Rocky Mountain gas to the Western US.

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling says the proceeds from the sale will help fund TransCanada’s capital program, which includes $26 billion in commercially secured projects.

“The transaction demonstrates one of the many funding options available to TransCanada to finance our current capital commitments,” he said.

©The Canadian Press

It’s a blessing that we have a former vice-president of the United States visiting Canada to set us all straight on the development of oil sands resources, which he condemned for the “reckless spewing of pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere as if it’s an open sewer” during an interview with the Globe and Mail.

However, Al Gore’s remarks were less than helpful as Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver travelled through Europe to tackle the EU’s new Fuel Quality Directive, which labels fuel derived from oil sands crude as dirtier than conventionally refined crude. Oliver argues that is not the case, and he’ll have a challenging time getting the Europeans to change their minds, even without Gore’s provocative remarks.

Alberta’s oil sands have become a chief villain in the global climate change narrative. There is a growing hostile clamour coming from enviro-critics who are unimpressed with the notion that an energy hungry world reliant on non-renewable fossil fuels should make use of a massive resource within a stable jurisdiction. As Gore stated so elegantly to the Globe and Mail, “There’s no such thing as ethical oil. There’s only dirty oil and dirtier oil.”

Yes, we all recognize that extracting and turning the glop that comes from the oil sands into fuel is more carbon intensive than conventional means – something like 12% to 22% more greenhouse gas emissions per barrel (depending on who is measuring). And sure, mining the bitumen isn’t pretty. It makes a mess of the landscape. But reckless spewing?

We could point out that the industry’s R&D and new technology is dropping emissions levels, that energy producers are focusing on mitigating water use and they’re pledging to return the landscape to almost original condition – not that these efforts will resonate with critics, like Gore.

Yet as an environmental prophet, he actually does have relevant things to say about climate change and the need to address this global environmental threat, but like many of the critics of the “tar sands” and the opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline, his efforts would be best applied to the dirty business going on in his own backyard.

Neither the US nor Canada are particularly good examples of emissions stewardship. Both have earned Ds for their efforts in a field of 17 developed economies, according to the Conference Board of Canada’s How Canada Performs report card. But electricity generation is a major source of emissions for both countries, and based on that measure, Canada gets an A on renewable energy, compared to an American C.

Electricity accounts for the biggest portion of US emissions at 33%. Seventy per cent of its electricity generation comes from burning fossil fuels. Of that, burning coal is good for 42%.

Thirteen per cent of Canada’s emissions come from generating electricity, second to transportation at 24%. Low emitting power sources (such as nuclear, wind, solar and hydro) account for 78% of the power. Of that, 64% is from hydro generation.

Both countries lag on emissions reductions. Canada is about halfway to a recalibrated commitment of 17% from 2005 levels, while the US brought its emissions down in 2011 by reducing the intensity of fuels used for electricity, notably coal, and significantly increasing the use of hydro.

Good for the US. But it bears repeating that in the climate change sweepstakes, China is responsible for 23% of emissions, the US 19%, the EU 13% and Canada 2%. Of that 2%, the oil sands accounts for 7% of Canada’s total emissions and about 0.15% of global emissions. If Canada were to shut down the oil sands tomorrow and not extract or upgrade another drop of bitumen, there would be virtually no impact on global emissions. The United States, on the other hand, is still burning plenty of fossil fuels for electricity. Coal, scrubbed or not, is hardly clean. Oliver notes emissions from US coal-fired power plants are 40 times greater than those generated by the oil sands.

So who is treating the atmosphere like an open sewer? Grandma would say that’s the pot calling the kettle black, Mr. Gore…

Ballard Power Systems, headquartered in Burnaby, B.C., expects to power about 40 of the 50 fuel cell buses running on European roads, all using the firm’s latest 75- and 150-kilowatt FCvelocity-HD6 modules.

The FCvelocity modules are based on zero emission technology that provides power while emitting only water and heat.

“Our fuel cell power module has proven to be highly reliable in a large number of buses in Europe and elsewhere,” Dr. Christopher Guzy, chief technology officer at Ballard, said in a statement.

“And, since fuel cells are a zero emission solution, this has made the Ballard module an increasingly popular choice of transit authorities as an alternative power technology.”

Helping boost Ballard’s in-service numbers in Europe By 2014 is its partnership with Van Hool NV, the continent’s fourth-largest bus maker.

The B.C.-based firm will be powering 27 new fuel cell buses made by Van Hool, which will be operating in Norway, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Scotland by next year.

The 10 buses destined for Scotland will call the central city of Aberdeen home, according to the company, and will be the second-largest such fleet in the world behind the 20-bus fleet that has been running in Whistler, B.C., wince 2010.

Ballard has also worked with other bus manufacturers to integrate its fuel cell modules into buses operating in additional European cities, including: London, Amsterdam and Cologne, Germany.

The company says fuel cell hybrid buses in Europe have logged more than three million kilometres in revenue service since 2003.

Ballard is currently working to further commercialize its FCvelocity-HD power modules—with funding support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)—through improvements in durability and reliability, as well as reduced costs.

Expanded fuel cell bus deployments are also expected to generate technology enhancements for vehicles and fueling infrastructure, including improvements in well-to-wheel performance and significant reductions in life-cycle cost and purchase price.

The premier says there was “very keen interest” from companies and other governments in a carbon capture project at the Boundary Dam power station near Estevan. The Saskatchewan government wants to commercialize the technology being tested at the plant.

Wall says the project will be tried out this fall and will “go live” as a generating facility next year.

“But we’re getting close enough now where SaskPower officials are starting to welcome earnest consideration to join this consortium and invest, you know, bring some of those capital dollars to our province,” said Wall.

Carbon capture involves gathering carbon dioxide from power plants and injecting it deep into porous rock formations so it doesn’t add to greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan at Boundary Dam is to capture up to 90% of CO2 emissions. Most of the CO2 will be sold to oil and gas companies that use it to push more oil out of the ground in what’s called enhanced oil recovery.

Saskatchewan has put about $1.1 billion to the carbon capture project and the federal government has ponied up $240 million.

The province, which relies heavily on coal-fire power plants, needs carbon capture to work. Coal currently provides more than 50 per cent of Saskatchewan’s electricity and the province has an estimated 300-year supply, according to SaskPower’s website.

“In the years ahead, when the federal regulations require that certain coal plants simply can’t operate anymore, what are we going to do? Are we going to shut them all down and build all new or is coal still viable?” Wall asked. “There’s two objectives here. One is to generate some commercialization opportunities, some revenue from around the world for this technology, but also to use it for ourselves so that at least coal is an option and we’ll have cleaned it up.”

©The Canadian Press

The agency says the decline largely reflects lower sales in the petroleum and coal product and in the chemical manufacturing industries.

Excluding these industries, Canadian manufacturing sales rose 0.3 per cent.

Overall, sales declined in 10 of 21 industries, representing approximately one-third of Canadian manufacturing.

Sales of non-durable goods declined 0.8 per cent to $24.4-billion and were partially offset by a 0.2 per cent increase in sales of durable goods.

Sales fell in six provinces in March with most of the decreases reported by manufacturers in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.

Sales jumped 30.7 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador and there was very little change in the sales in other provinces.

Mel Norton of Saint John says he and other delegates have been in Alberta for the last couple of days talking about what’s been dubbed the Energy East Pipeline.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. said last month it wants solid backing from shippers before deciding whether to go ahead with a proposal.

Norton says it’s absolutely essential that producers know the opportunities an East-West pipeline could offer and commit to it.

He says the line isn’t a tough sell in Alberta, but suggests it will take work to get all the “in-between” provinces on board.

Norton says it’s an exercise in relationship-building that would ultimately bring economic prosperity to everyone.