Canada doesn‘t want ’tit-for-tat‘ with US on green transition -gov’t source

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will boost investments in the green transition in this year‘s budget to compete with massive U.S. incentives, but the aim is to claim a portion of the growing clean-tech industry, not to go head-to-head with the world’s biggest economy, a senior Canadian government source said.

Countries across the globe are trying to take advantage of a rapid shift to low-carbon energy, and the passage in the United States of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) last year provides massive incentives for those who invest there.

In the 2023-2024 budget, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has promised to try to level the playing field, at least in some areas, with the United States after the IRA.

“It‘s about growing the pie, not just dividing it up,” said the source familiar with the file, who was not authorized to speak on the record. Canada has communicated clearly its plans to the Americans. “We don’t want to get into a game of tit-for-tat,” the source said.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by Denny Thomas and Jason Neely)