Newsletters
Issue 2, November 2009
2010 Pre-budget Submission
On September 17, 2009 QUEST appeared before the Finance Committee of the House of Commons.
Ken Ogilvie and Shahrzad Rahbar, QUEST Vice-Chair and Senior Vice President, Canadian Gas Association made the presentation (427 KB PDF). QUEST made three recommendations. First to allocate $50M over five years for capacity building, including funding the QUEST initiative. Second, allocate new long-term funding to accelerate the adoption of integrated energy solutions at the community level. Coordinate existing programs to ensure there is a cross-departmental coordination mechanism in place dedicated to the community energy space. And apply QUEST’s principles to better support integrated energy solutions.
QUEST Participates in Roundtable
On October 23, 2099 Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt hosted the first in a series of energy roundtables. The meeting focused on Integrated Community Energy Solutions. Many of the QUEST’s community members were invited to participate including Mike Harcourt, QUEST Chairman; Glen Murray, President and CEO, Canadian Urban Institute; Karen Farbridge, Mayor, City of Guelph; Michael Cleland, President and CEO, Canadian Gas Association and Bob Oliver, Executive Director,
Pollution Probe.
The event provided an opportunity to recognize the work done by QUEST and to discuss how best to take Integrated Community Energy Solutions forward. QUEST has written to the Minister to offer advice on key issues and initiatives that should guide further policy in this area.
QUEST Meets Municipal Leaders
On June 5-8, 2009 QUEST hosted a panel presentation at the 2009 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual General Meeting and Executive Conference in Whistler, BC. QUEST held a seminar with Building Information Modeling technology provider, Autodesk also which was co-sponsored by Terasen Gas and BC Hydro. The seminar introduced QUEST to municipal leaders across Canada and included presentations by Mike Harcourt, QUEST Chairman; Karen Farbridge, Mayor, City of Guelph; Emanuel Machado, Planner, City of Dawson Creek; John Warren, Lead Engineer, Canadian Urban Institute and Caesar Ruest, Autodesk. The seminar was attended by approximately 300 participants.
Additional QUEST presentations have also been made to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities Annual Conference and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Connections Conference. Interested in having a QUEST presentation to your sector or municipal association? Contact Tonja Leach for more information.
