The Matters of Opinion discussion, ‘Mitigating Increasing Energy Costs’ featured Tyler Elm, Vice-President of Business Sustainability, Corporate Strategy and Business Development for Canadian Tire and James Eddy, General Manager of Energy at Vale.

The session, held at the 8th Annual Ontario Economic Summit, showcased what each company is doing to reduce their respective ecological footprints.

Mr. Elm highlighted Canadian Tire’s competitive strategy for business sustainability, which has a significant energy element. He stated that their energy footprint is made up of 76% from their products, 15% from transport, with the remainder from their operation buildings and distribution centres. Elm also showcased their creation of recycled car mats from scrap tires that are produced in Ontario—their part in reducing the waste stream in the region.

Canadian Tire’s business sustainability solutions include right-sizing packages, reducing damages from handling, retrofitting technologies, using energy efficient lighting and integrating distribution with rail.

Mr. Eddy called Vale’s strategies a competitive advantage. “To essentially stay in business it is about competing now, and in the future, because no one is standing still,” said Mr. Eddy. By being innovative with their energy strategies, he estimated that the company could stay in business for another 50 years.

Vale hopes to be at 40% of its current energy consumption by 2040. They hope to accomplish this through the help of partnerships like academia, industry, energy, supply chain partners, and regulatory authorities.

Vale has made commitments to be more energy efficient by using ventilation on demand in their mines.

Following Roland Aurich’s presentation at the 8th Annual Ontario Economic Summit, a panel on urban sustainability discussed water as a key asset, allocation of funds and its representation in politics. The panelists included Laurent Auguste, Angus Toulouse, Fred Eisenberger, and Frances Lankin.

Mr. Auguste stated that water will be a key asset going forward with the number of  middle class people in the world climbing to three billion over the next 20 years. He ensured delegates this will be an opportunity but many challenges also come from this as it puts pressure on natural resources. He insisted it takes much vision and strategy to be on top of the issue.

Ms. Lankin acknowledged the investment in infrastructure, arts and culture and new technology jobs, but noted that if our cities are to be safe and secure and attract new investment, we have to have cities that are inclusive and a place for all.

Mr. Eisenberg stated that the funding formula is quite ‘messed up’. He went on to say cities are the largest expense in the country and they should start making some noise, and talk about the needs to secure funding. Mr. Eisenberg also emphasized the need to maintain and preserve the agricultural community, and purported the need to urbanize cities in order to protect green spaces and agricultural lands that provide resources for these urban areas.

That said, he was optimistic and said he believes that the province is taking some forward thinking steps, especially in the increase of young people with university degrees.

At the 8th Annual Ontario Economic Summit, President and CEO of Siemens Canada, Roland Aurich spoke about urban sustainability and four megatrends that shape the future of urban regions: urbanization, climate change, demographic change and globalization. These trends account for the way that business can be conducted in a sustainable way.

Currently 50% of the world’s population resides in urban regions, this number is expected to rise to 75% by 2050. This puts even more stress on infrastructure as well as the production of energy and the consumption of it.

The world’s population is already consuming more resources than it produces. Aurich stated that, “In order to move forward, sustainability needs to be on every party’s agenda.” He went on to say that without an apolitical commitment, the economic development of cities cannot flourish and discussed how cities such as London, Munich and Copenhagen have goals to reduce the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions and using renewable energy.

Aurich pointed to Siemens and their three-tiered approach to sustainable development: planet, people and profit.

For Aurich, business should focus on sustainability to ensure the same quality of life for future generations. He emphasizes that being focused on sustainability does not mean a trade off of business profits, stating, “It is THE profitable business [approach]“.

In order for this technology to help ensure sustainable infrastructure development, Aurich suggests that both businesses and political entities will need to engage in a dialogue. This collaboration is crucial and it will maintain the region’s competitiveness on the world stage.

The backbone of this infrastructure is a sustainable approach.

In a speech centred around the upcoming report on public spending to be released by the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak shared his scepticism with delegates at the Ontario Economic Summit that the Liberal party would be willing and able to follow through with the recommendations made by the Commission.

The Commission, led by Don Drummond, former chief economist of TD Bank, has already said that consolidation will be the key to reform in the province.

“I don’t trust that they’ll make the right decisions when the Drummond report comes out,” said Hudak of the provincial Liberal government. “I don’t think they’ll even know where to begin.”

Hudak went on to outline the Provincial Conservatives priorities for the next several years, including over-hauling ‘taxpayer funded’ salaries to more closely match the private sector, fixing the public sector salary arbitration system and a top to bottom review of all government services.

Hudak criticized the current government for, he believes, not creating the right environment for investment in the province. Drawing on traditional Conservative principles, he said the public sector needs to stay out of the way to allow the private sector to innovate.

“The [PC] Caucus is working hard to keep the government on its feet,” said Hudak.

NDP Leader, Andrea Horwath and the Honourable Dalton McGuinty also spoke at the 8th Annual Ontario Economic Summit.

“Great things happen when people with different views and ideas meet,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath at the 8th Annual Economic Summit.

Ms. Horwath went on to state that challenges are faced everyday in an ever changing world, and change is a good thing. She insisted the NDP understood that building a better world meant generating wealth and stated her belief that the NDP has shown how to do that in the office.

The first female leader of the NDP discussed her interest in having a broad based conversation on how to improve things in Ontario.

Ms. Horwath outlined how she thought the economic recovery from the 2008 recession has been uneven and unreliable, and that middle income households that were already feeling the squeeze, are now falling behind.

“One out of every four people are worried about losing their job,” she said, going on to state that the province cannot succeed if people are worried about falling behind; people need to look into the future with confidence if the economy is going to grow.

The NDP leader realizes there cannot be growth under a massive debt burden and a balanced approach must be taken. A closer look at the revenues and expenditures and a long term plan is needed to get back on track. Ontario needs to focus resources on areas where it can do the most good and, she believes, the best way to help Ontario is to help Ontario families.

PC Leader Tim Hudak and the Honourable Dalton McGuinty also spoke at the 8th Annual Ontario Economic Summit.