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this means that wind power capacity in many of the provinces is bound to
increase. he Canadian Wind Power Association forecasts that wind power
will grow to 12,000 MW by 2016. 69 Already it is apparent that wind power
development will continue to lourish in Québec and Alberta over the next
few years. he fate of wind power in Ontario will largely depend on the out-
come of a provincial investigation into the health efects of wind turbines.
As mentioned earlier, this is a concern that has led to a moratorium on
ofshore development and signiicantly stymied further onshore develop-
ment. In other provinces where wind power has shown potential—British
Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—
future development depends signiicantly on decisions made by the govern-
ing regime in each province. Currently, there appears to be at least a degree
of support for expanding wind power in all these provinces.
Interestingly, the future of wind power development in Canada will likely
be inluenced most by what happens in the United States. As explained in
the chapter on the United States, the electricity grid and electricity gen-
eration infrastructure in the United States is in dire need of technological
enhancement. For northern US states, Canadian electricity exports repre-
sent a viable interim solution for bolstering grid resilience with clean energy.
Policies developed in states like Washington, Minnesota, and Michigan could
very well provide the added market inducement to enhance the pace of wind
power development in Canada. Moreover, given that the Harper adminis-
tration has linked Canada's climate change mitigation policy to US policy,
developments in the United States could have a catalytic efect in Canada.
Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau is purported to have
observed that being America's neighbor “is like sleeping with an elephant. . .
no matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, if one can call it that,
one is afected by every twitch and grunt.” In this case, a sizable twitch may
signiicantly impact how the electricity sector in Canada evolves.
NOTES
1. his chapter draws from content from a previously published work:  Valentine,
S.V. 2010. “Canada's Constitutional Separation of (Wind) Power.” Energy Policy
38: 1918-1930.
2. As reported by the World Wind Energy Association, www.wwindea.org.
3. Gil, Hugo A., Geza Joos, Jean-Claude DesLauriers, and Lisa Dignard-Bailey. 2006.
Integration of Wind Generation with Power Systems in Canada: Overview of Technical
and Economic Impacts . Ottawa: National Resources Canada.
4. Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA. 2008). Windvision 2025:  Powering
Canada's Future . Ottawa: Canadian Wind Energy Association.
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