NDP energy critic John Horgan wants a committee to examine the usefulness of biofuels in the fight against climate change.

Horgan, MLA for Malahat–Juan de Fuca, tried to delay second reading of B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld’s Bill 16—the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements) Act—on April 8. But his motion to send the bill to the select standing committee on legislative initiatives was defeated by a 40–30 vote.

“My view, and the rationale for the referral motion, is that this is a golden opportunity for all members of the House to come together as one in committee—whether it be a newly constituted committee or one that is appointed by the committee on legislative initiatives—to look at this issue, to bring in experts, to have a debate internally in the glare of the public eye, and come to a conclusion on the efficacy and value of biofuels,” Horgan said in comments recorded in Hansard.

The Liberal government’s B.C. Bioenergy Strategy, unveiled January 31, aims to have the province’s biofuel industry meet 50 percent or more of B.C.’s renewable energy needs by 2020.

Also in the legislature, Peace River South Liberal MLA Blair Lekstrom said, “There’s no doubt in my mind that this question is not food or fuel. It is food and fuel, and that’s where we’re headed with the agricultural sector and the issue of new fuel sources in this province.”

Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows NDP MLA Michael Sather said that “more research is needed around the issue of products like ethanol and biodiesel”.

“That’s the whole purpose of this legislation [Bill 16], I think—to reduce greenhouse gases,” Sather said, also recorded in Hansard. “So we have to keep our eye on the prize here. That’s the prize. Is the legislation actually going to do that, and is it going to do it in a significant enough way to really have an effect?”

Earlier in the debate, Sather said, “It’s incumbent upon us to try to come forward with solutions and alternatives to fossil fuels, which we know are running out. We have reached peak oil…”