The Way to Cleaner Energy for our Planet

Head Table Guests

Anne Curran, Second Vice-President, The Empire Club of Canada and Director, Corporate Development International; The Rev. Dr. John Gladstone, Minister Emeritus, Yorkminster Park Baptist Church; Rebecca Hart, OAC Honour Student, North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Winner of the Bronfman Award and the Senator Keith Davey Award for Top Scholar at North Toronto Collegiate Institute; Gary Polonsky, President, Durham College and Chairman, Iter Community Council; Don MacKinnon, President, Power Workers' Union; Roger Anderson, Regional Chair, Regional Municipality of Durham; Peter Janson, Chairman and CEO, AMECInc. John Beck, Chairman and CEO, BFC Construction Group; John E. Cleghorn, Chairman and CEO, The Royal Bank of Canada; The Hon. Jim Wilson, M.P.P., Minster of Energy, Science and Technology, Province of Ontario; Gareth S. Seltzer, President and CEO, TWS Petroleum Limited and TWS Private Management Inc. and Past President, The Empire Club of Canada; John Nunziata, Former Member of Parliament and Lawyer specialising in regional government relations; Dr. Evgeny Velikhov, Academian, Academy of Science of the Russian Federation and Chairman, Iter Council; Alex

Shepherd, M.P., Member of Parliament, Durham, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure; Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Former Executive Director, United Nations Environment Program and Chair, Environment Advisory Committee for Iter Canada; Mayor John Mutton, Mayor, Municipality of Clarington; David Drinkwater, Executive Vice-President with responsibility for Corporate Development, Ontario Power Generation; and The Hon. Michael H. Wilson, Chairman and CEO, RT Capital Management Inc. and Former Minister of Finance for the Government of Canada.

Introduction by Catherine Steele

It is my privilege to welcome our guest speaker, Mr. Peter Barnard, Chairman and CEO, Iter Canada.

These days, the issue of energy is everywhere. Whether it's rising natural gas prices, rising fuel prices, or supply versus demand, Canadians have suddenly become very tuned in to energy options, cost and the future for energy solutions. Although I must say having just returned from a week in the U.K. and Switzerland, Canadian gas prices at the pumps now seem incredibly reasonable!

Iter Canada is a not-for-profit corporation supported by the federal and Ontario governments, universities, labour, industry and local governments committed to locating the world's Iter centre (or cold fusion energy source) here in Ontario at Clarington.

Scientists and engineers from around the world have been working together for over 50 years to successfully develop fusion energy as the way to a clean and sustainable energy source able to meet a large share of the world's future energy requirements.

Formed in 1997, Iter's mandate is to support the establishment of the lter facility and prepare and promote Canada as its host.

As Chairman and CEO of Iter Canada, Peter Barnard is responsible for the overall direction and leadership of Iter Canada, and has been at the helm of Iter Canada since its inception in 1997.

As an entrepreneur and builder of organisations, Peter has had a remarkable career. In total, he has founded seven different organisations and led major transitions in four others. In total, he had led 11 organisations as either Chairman, CEO or President. My term of President of the Empire Club expires the end of April, just in case you're interested.

A professional engineer, Peter holds a B.Sc. (Honours) in Civil Engineering from Queen's University, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Sciences from Cambridge University and is a graduate of the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Peter Barnard to The Empire Club of Canada.

Peter Barnard

Thank you, Catherine, for your kind introduction.

I'm very pleased and honoured to have this opportunity to address The Empire Club of Canada.

Before I begin, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our representatives from the federal and provincial governments, our leaders from local government, the international Iter delegations from Russia, the European Union and Japan and our head table members and supporters. It's an honour to speak to such an august audience about Iter, a project that has the potential to affect not only Canada but to change the world.

Iter is the last step in a huge worldwide programme to develop fusion, a new, cleaner energy form for our planet. By winning an international bid to host Iter, Canada has a terrific chance to become the world centre of excellence for research and development in the high-tech energy field.

Today I have the great pleasure-indeed I am proud to announce that Canada is a leading contender in the global competition to host Iter. Iter is the last stage in a worldwide programme to develop fusion energy and it will be funded by an international partnership between Japan, the European Union, Russia and Canada. Bringing Iter to Canada will have a major positive impact on our economy and on our development as one of the world's leading technological nations.

And we can do this in a uniquely Canadian way: through a public/private sector partnership that would be a world first in the development of international research centres.

If you're wondering why the development of fusion is important in today's world, it's because we are heavily dependent on energy. As examples, you don't need to look further afield than California, our own recent dramatic energy price increases, or any deeper into history than the oil embargo of 1973.

I think you can also see that, while energy crises can arise very quickly, it takes years to find a solution.

And, while our world clearly needs more energy, we also need cleaner energy, because we have to be concerned about greenhouse gases, climate change and pollution. But let me start at the beginning.

The discovery that fusion is the energy that powers the sun, the stars, and the rest of the universe came in the early 1920s. Since that time, thousands of scientists from dozens of countries have devoted their careers to harnessing fusion's power here on earth. To date, the world has invested $75 billion.

Here's the only physics you need to know. As the name suggests, fusion occurs when tiny amounts of matter are forced together to create and release huge amounts of energy. This process is partly described by Albert Einstein's famous equation E=MC2.

The attractions of fusion energy are:

1. Its main fuel source-hydrogen-is available anywhere on earth;
2. Fusion produces no greenhouse gases and is relatively waste-free; and
3. It is inherently safe in operation.

What makes fusion safe in operation is also what makes it difficult to achieve. Fusion requires a precisely controlled environment and any change in that environment will prevent fusion from occurring.

Since the 1950s, the world's scientific community has focused on the peaceful development of fusion as a practical source of energy, with international collaboration as the strategy for achieving that goal.

Scientists from more than 30 countries, including Canada, have spent the last five decades developing their understanding of the physics and other scientific challenges needed to make fusion energy a reality.

Following successful programmes in four major fusion research centres in Japan, Russia, at Princeton in the United States and at the European site near Oxford in England, these countries decided to build a major fusion R&D centre in an international, co-operative effort. This project was named Iter. In fact, the decision to create Iter was made at the 1985 World Summit in Geneva by Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and Francois Mitterand.

Iter is the Latin word for ""the way,"" and it symbolises ""the way to cleaner energy for our planet."" The goal of Iter will be to answer all the remaining scientific and technological questions. Then a fusion power station can be built to produce electricity-sustainable, clean, fusion electricity.

With a total budget of over $12 billion, the Iter project will be the world's largest, co-operative scientific/industrial programme after the space station.

This is where Iter Canada comes in. I am pleased to announce today that a Canadian offer to host Iter has been prepared. It now needs the federal government's approval to be submitted to the other governments to get us formally into the bidding. Competitive bids to host Iter--and this is really the Olympics of the world's scientific community--are also expected from Japan and from France.

Many international experts view Iter Canada's bid as the best. Our site at Clarington, at the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area on the shore of Lake Ontario, is broadly agreed to be the greatest, technically, in the world. We provide a welcoming environment in our multicultural setting for international scientists and their families. Canada could begin construction of Iter the year after next and accelerate the start of the Iter programme.

Canada also has the world's only adequate source of the tritium fuel, a form of hydrogen, that Iter needs. And finally, many factors provide our bid with a huge cost advantage over the competition.

Winning Iter would be a fantastic opportunity for Canada, the Province of Ontario, the region and for many sectors of our economy. Let me tell you about some of the benefits.

First, according to a study by Ernst and Young and the University of Toronto, hosting Iter in Canada would create about 68,000 new person-years of work for Canadians. That is a huge number. The total economic impact of so much activity could reduce the combined federal and provincial debts in Canada by more than $6 billion.

Secondly, and perhaps even more significantly, Iter would provide Canada with the largest, most incredible ""brain gain"" in Canadian project history.

Iter will attract 250 of the world's top physicists and technology engineers and their families to come and live in the Toronto area. At a time when many observers are concerned with this country's brain drain and losing our top-calibre people, Iter will help reverse the tide.

Thirdly, hosting Iter in Canada will immediately increase Canadian industry and university access to the most advanced research and technologies, not just in fusion but in dozens of other fields.

A study by the Impact Group, a technology consulting firm, has identified 66 leading-edge technologies that will be housed in Iter. Fewer than half of these are currently used in Canada to the extent required for this project. Iter will be a true technological gold mine sitting in our midst for Canadian high-tech industries, universities and research centres to exploit.

And who is making this happen? This bid is a real team effort.

Iter Canada-the organisation I'm privileged to head is a non-profit company formed in 1997 to provide Canadian expertise to the Iter design and research effort, and to persuade governments that Canada is the best place to build Iter. With financial support from the federal and provincial governments, from Ontario Power Generation and from the rest of our members, we have made real progress.

Iter Canada encompasses all sectors of Canadian society. Our members and supporters include four levels of government, four universities stretched across the country, the Canadian labour movement, and 14 leading private-sector companies that offer all of the capabilities and expertise required to build and run Canada's share of the Iter project.

I should add that we have the advantage of the advice and counsel of 10 eminent Canadian environmentalists who comprise Iter Canada's Environmental Advisory Committee.

We work as a team, and with real commitment. Our bid to host Iter has been shared with the provincial government, and is now awaiting federal government approval before submitting it to Japan, Russia and the European Union. We would then begin international negotiations that could lead to an agreement next year to host Iter in Canada.

The federal government can now realise a return on its investment in us, and I would like to thank Minister Ralph Goodale, who is out of town, for his support and encouragement in this process.

I also want to express my appreciation for Ontario Power Generation's commitment to provide the Iter site and the Province of Ontario for its participation. And let me thank Ontario's Minister of Energy, Science and Technology Jim Wilson publicly for his government's support.

To take us to the next step-winning this bid for our country-Iter Canada will need additional resources. Today I am particularly delighted to announce that a group of Iter Canada private-sector and labour members have agreed to provide more than $22 million in new funding to secure the remainder of the bid. This money will enable us to proceed to an international agreement. These organisations include AMEC, BFC Construction, SNC-Lavalin, Canatom NPM, the Building and Construction Trades Council, the Power Workers' Union and many others.

While it is a carefully considered investment, it also speaks to these organisations' belief in the future of fusion energy and to our ability to win this project for Canada. They are backing this belief with real money.

One of the truly innovative aspects of our proposal is that financing the $1.5-billion Canadian share of Iter will be led by the private sector, together with contributions of the site and the tritium by Ontario Power Generation. In other words, hosting Iter in Canada will be a world first: a public/private sector partnership to build a major world research centre.

I'd like to conclude by saying again that Iter is not only a major opportunity that will benefit Canada, but also the last step in a huge worldwide programme to develop a new, cleaner energy form for our planet.

By winning an international bid to host Iter, Canada has a great chance to become the world centre of excellence for research and development in the high-tech energy field. I truly believe Iter Canada can win this bid. We can host the final stage of one of the world's greatest scientific and industrial quests in the past century, and together, we can bring the Olympics of Science and Technology here to Canada.

Thank you.

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Gareth S. Seltzer, President and CEO, TWS Petroleum Limited and TWS Private Management Inc. and Past President, The Empire Club of Canada.