We have new momentum in our energy sector.

Last week both the provincial and federal governments gave the greenlight to EnCana's Deep Panuke project.

Deep Panuke has already put new life and optimism into our offshore supply community and our local economy.

We have already seen it pay-off with contracts like the one awarded to Laurentian Steel Fabricators.

If and when it goes ahead, this project will bring great economic benefits for our province. It will provide jobs, opportunity and support for our social programs.

Just as importantly, this project brings attention back to our region.

Industry is watching this project progress. We are hearing good things about our streamlined regulatory process to bring this project into fruition. In fact we have cut the process time in half.

Now we are asking ourselves: what's next?

Thanks to our Offshore Strategy Energy Agreement with EnCana, there will be money put aside for research and development. We know we have the resource potential, the industry, the infrastructure and the ready market, but we need to do more to kick-start exploration. We have to set ourselves apart from the rest of the global competition. That's where the new ideas come in.

And new ideas we have. New, fresh ideas that are coming in from staff in my government, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, OTANS, research associations, industry, academia and countless others.

We all know there is not one initiative, not one silver bullet, that will bring exploration back, but a package of well-thought out and strategically targeted initiatives.

This includes making new geological information available to explorers, new policy and licence options, increased investment in research, regulatory advances and of course promotion of our world-class companies, people and resources.

That is why I was recently in Houston and Dallas to showcase our province as a place with great resource potential and as a great place to do business. I talked to some companies that are already here and some that are considering exploration in our area.

We discussed what we are doing in Nova Scotia, the opportunities that exist and what challenges they feel need to be fixed. I listened closely to their feedback. The good news is the companies told us we are heading in the right direction.

Onshore, things are moving quickly. We are seeing increased exploration and for the first time we are reviewing a development plan for the production of coalbed methane.

We also have other explorers looking at our onshore resources. Four wells are being drilled this fall and new seismic tests will be conducted in the Windsor area. These explorers are looking at both conventional oil and gas and unconventional shale gas.

And it is not just oil and gas that we are promoting in Nova Scotia. Like the rest of the world, we are aggressively searching out sources of green energy.

Our onshore energy includes a first-class wind resource with high-speed, high-power winds.

And not too far away, in the Bay of Fundy, we hope to further harness the 50-foot tides along Nova Scotia's coastline.

In-stream tidal energy, wave energy, and even offshore wind energy, represent business opportunities for the energy sector.

They represent new ideas, new technology, new innovation.

With all of this happening, right here in our province, the future of the energy sector in this province is bright.