Tax credits, loans and grants are essential to help companies reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and keep pace with other nations' transportation networks, according to a pair of transportation groups ahead of the federal budget set to be tabled
Investors and would-be suppliers need incentives to start churning out sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) — not a drop of which is produced domestically — to match new programs in
"Airlines have sent very clear demand signals they will buy every drop of SAF produced, and yet what's missing from the equation is any sort of federal incentive or support, unlike most other western countries, including the
Typically derived from used cooking oils, animal fats or organic waste, green jet fuel shaves off about 80 per cent of a plane's emissions.
The federal government has set a goal of 10 per cent green jet fuel use by 2030. Last year, it pledged
Airlines have two main requests they believe will foster fuel-making factories and long-term output by producers: an investment tax credit at a rate of 50 per cent on manufacturing facilities and a production tax credit with a 10-year horizon — on par with an incentive south of the border.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Marine Commerce says both a green shipping corridor program launched last year and a seven-year-old
If such efforts aren't undertaken,
"They run off fuel on the ship, those systems, which have generators and then power up the conveyor belts," he noted in an interview.
"To electrify all of that by plugging into an electrical grid on shore, it's just like taking your vacuum cleaner up to the dock and then you plug it into someone's plug on the shore and you use their electricity," he said. "You're going to have to pay for it, but it'll be much more efficient, cost-effective and no GHGs."
The government's
The federal government also administers a
But airlines and shippers want even more money for infrastructure improvement projects, partly to keep up with the funding tsunami unleashed south of the border by the Biden administration's
The airlines council, which represents four of the country's biggest carriers including
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, airports handed over
"As a result, airport infrastructure lacks competitiveness, especially compared to the
"The federal government sees air travel as a cash cow."
A higher security fee — it jumps by a third to as much as
As for nautical competition, the Chamber of Marine Commerce has called on the government to rethink a new national certification program for ship pilots that it claims will be "costly," "complex" and laden with "red tape."
"That will ultimately be a disincentive for our pilots to become certified," Burrows said. Shippers fear they will have to start subsidizing the cost of obtaining a licence to attract future boat captains, he said.
Currently, four regional pilotage authorities oversee the certification process.
The chamber also hopes to see more funding for the
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
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