Investing Deirdre MacMurdy - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Reaping rewards from Ottawa's newest obsession

Good news for green innovators

Investing Deirdre MacMurdy - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Reaping rewards from Ottawa's newest obsession: "Reaping rewards from Ottawa's newest obsession
Strange bedfellows: Politics and profits come together on environmental issues
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By Deirdre McMurdy
December 07, 2006
Politics and financial markets make uneasy bedfellows. It isn't just that stock traders and policy makers are wary of one another, it's the fundamental clash of short-term and long-term perspectives.
That said, for those are able to look beyond the two solitudes and find the points where agendas intersect, there can be some unexpected investment ideas to consider.
A case in point: When Stephane Dion recently won his bid to lead the federal Liberal Party, environmental issues suddenly got a huge shot in the arm.
It's not just that Mr. Dion's policy platform centered on everything green, it's what that focus means to his Opponents.
There's not much question his leadership will pull votes in the upcoming spring election from both the NDP and the Green Party. Both have made aggressive efforts to claim ownership of that file.
But the real traction will come from the fact that in an effort to undermine Mr. Dion and the Liberals, the Tories are likely to ramp up their environmental policies to pre-empt any gains the Liberals might make.
That means that for investors, green has a whole new meaning and companies with leverage to that agenda, are likely to look pretty attractive over the near term.
Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl, for example, is expected to make an announcement with respect to the use of alternative fuels in the next couple of months. And Ontario has already legislated that by 2007, all gasoline sold in the province must contain five per cent ethanol, i"