By Alastair Sharp and Leah Schnurr
TORONTO/OTTAWA, March 21 (Reuters) - Canadian companies
working on energy-efficient innovations are looking to Tuesday's
federal budget to deliver tax breaks and other incentives as
part of billions of dollars of stimulus spending pledged by the
new Liberal government.
The Liberals, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were
elected last October after promising deficit spending to boost
the economy, with money for green projects accounting for
one-third of C$5 billion ($3.83 billion) in infrastructure
spending in fiscal 2016-17.
Green technology executives say their industry boasts plenty
of "shovel-ready" projects of the type Ottawa hopes will boost
near-term growth. But they also want support that will benefit
them in the longer term.
"There is a massive global opportunity here, and we happen
to be ready to take advantage of it," said Tom Rand, whose
ArcTern Ventures fund has C$45 million invested in domestic
companies and aims to raise another C$200 million this year.
Canada had almost $12 billion of a roughly $1 trillion
global market for green technology in 2015, according to
Analytica Advisors. But its market share has shrunk since 2008
as countries such as Germany and South Korea increasingly
support their own companies.
Rand and other industry players want Tuesday's budget to
include C$1 billion in loan guarantees to backstop proven
technologies pitching for their first commercial contracts. They
are also keen for tax credits akin to those for investments in
riskier oil and gas and mining projects.
The industry players want C$1.25 billion for Sustainable
Development Technology Canada, a government funded foundation
that backs green technology companies, and C$500 million to
boost venture capital backing.
"It's a land grab out there, and the quicker Canada can get
its technologies into the global market for clean energy, the
bigger share we're going to have down the road," said Curtis
VanWalleghem, chief executive of Hydrostor Inc, an underwater
energy storage project developer.
But some industry watchers warn that Ottawa may hold off on
big spending until 2017, when a national carbon plan may be in
place.
Trudeau, who won power pledging to do more to fight global
warming, has been working with provincial leaders on a broader
climate strategy, including a national carbon price.
"This one is a stepping stone to what we hope will be a very
big investment in a clean energy economy in a year's time," said
Clare Demerse, senior policy advisor at Clean Energy Canada, a
think-tank based at Simon Fraser University.
($1 = 1.3050 Canadian dollars)
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)