Energy Conference Will Focus on Bottom-Line Issues Like Carbon Pricing
SAINT JOHN– Energy experts and leaders from across the country and North America will be in the Port City this week to discuss the region’s most pressing energy issues.
The East Coast Energy Connection, hosted by the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, is a two-day conference, June 6-7, that will explore the key issues, challenges and opportunities within the energy sector in Atlantic Canada and beyond.
This year’s event will focus on three key themes: Emerging trends in North American energy, Energy and the impact of Carbon Pricing and Atlantic Link.
As to be expected, U.S. president Donald Trump looms large over these discussions.
“Definitely in the era of Trump there is a lot of uncertainty, lots of concern that’s going over how does that affect not only the North American energy landscape, but how does it affect our regional energy landscape too,” says David Duplisea, CEO of the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce.
“We know the carbon pricing scenario is coming into effect now. The government is going to be mandating what some of those carbon pricing scenarios might look like or what some of those rates might look like. Those have serious ramifications on not only or energy sector here in the region, but also our competitiveness too.”
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Speakers and panelists for this year’s event include former New Brunswick premier and current Medavie CEO Bernard Lord; Dan Muldoon, executive vice president of major renewable and alternative energy at Emera; Chris David of Repsol Energy North America; Gerald Weseen of Clean Power Northeast Development and David Landrigan, vice president of fuels and energy at Nova Scotia Power.
The Chamber is also partnering with Port Days Saint John on a luncheon Tuesday that will feature keynote speaker Sarah Irving, Executive Vice President & Chief Brand Officer with Irving Oil.
Duplisea says the event is geared towards those in the energy sector, businesses of any size and the public. Though there’s sometimes a perception that the issues surrounding energy are only relevant to those in the industry, he says the conference will show how they actually impact every business.
“Energy is such a big piece of their input cost,” says Duplisea. “Businesses try to keep their costs down and their revenues up. Energy is a huge piece in our region of those input costs. Particularly when you have some challenges on the economy, employment, things like that, it makes it even more critical.
“Energy is not just a checklist item, it’s a very critical part of running your business. It’s a very critical part of watching your bottom line. It affects all of our businesses.”
Duplisea hopes people leave the conference hopeful and with more understanding about the energy sector and what’s to come. He says there’s a lot of “noise” out there regarding energy and they hope the event will help people sort through it.
“When you understand something better, it’s not as scary,” he says. “Carbon pricing is looming and that is scaring a lot of businesses, small, medium and large because the degree of effect on each one of them can be very massive and some people believe the carbon pricing, if it’s not done properly, could put them out of business.
“There’s some real-world lessons that people need to know moving forward. I think once you start to break down the barriers and you start to communicate … they will be able to orient their businesses towards those outcomes that they want.”
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Bill Thompson, a member of the event’s organizing committee, says East Coast Energy Connection will help all businesses in the region plan ahead and to view these issues in the Atlantic Canadian context.
“Anybody in business always wants to know where the world is going so they can do their own planning. and that’s what we’re hoping to do is educate them on where we’re going as a sector and as a region,” he says. “There are all kinds of questions and the more you know the more informed you can become in making an informed decision on your own business and making an informed comment of government policy or direction.”