(OTTAWA) The federal Liberals’ long-promised plan to transition Canada’s workforce to respond to climate change calls for a “green economy” not to cause mass unemployment in cities that are intimately related to hydrocarbons.
Ottawa’s “Interim Plan for Sustainable Jobs” even predicts that if Canada plays its cards right, the green economy will create so many jobs that there may not be enough workers to fill those positions. .
But some measures will require the traditional oil and gas sectors to “drastically” reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced when extracting fossil fuels, the government warns.
“According to numerous studies, rather than a shortage of jobs, Canada is much more likely to see an abundance of sustainable jobs with a shortage of workers needed to fill them,” reads the federal plan released Friday.
This interim plan for 2023-2025 comes more than three years after the federal Liberals promised a roadmap that must protect jobs as Canada embarks on a transition to a greener economy, even carbon neutrality.
Although this plan is rather sparing of details, it describes in general terms the ways in which Ottawa will help to maintain and create jobs in the energy sector, but also to transfer workers to “green jobs” as needed.
The plan also includes the creation of a new federal secretariat to oversee the process, training programs, Indigenous consultation and inclusion, and better data to fully understand the jobs that currently exist and those that may exist in the future. the future.
The job-creation promise mirrors comments made in January by the ‘New Ways Alliance’, a coalition of six oil sands companies trying to cut emissions, including through large-scale capture and storage systems. carbon.
During a roundtable with The Canadian Press on January 16, Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix said that industry investments to decarbonize production “would create a boom in oil-producing provinces that is equivalent to what happened in the 1980s and 1990s. The industry coalition estimates that this boom will create 35,000 new jobs.
No more “just transition”
But by its very name, this “sustainable jobs plan” is already mired in political quicksand in Alberta. We have heard a lot in recent weeks in this province that the federal government intends to impose a “just transition” plan that will destroy the energy sector there.
While the term “just transition” is the international standard used to describe the protection of workers during economic change, critics including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have brandished the term “transition” as evidence that Liberals plan to shut down his province’s energy industry.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has been saying for months that he prefers the term “sustainable jobs” because it’s more specific.
Mme Smith appeared more open to the notion of a “sustainable jobs” strategy, but her skepticism about the Liberals’ intentions remains high.
The day before the publication of the plan, Mme Smith wrote again to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to put the project on hold. She wrote Thursday that the “just transition” plan, along with federal regulations to limit emissions from oil and gas production and create a carbon-neutral power grid, “would pose an unconstitutional and existential threat to the economy. Alberta and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.
Mr. Trudeau and Mr.me Smith met in Ottawa on February 7, and they discussed ways to cooperate on green energy, including Alberta’s willingness to provide more government assistance to oil producers to install capture systems and carbon storage. But she said in her letter Thursday that abandoning the federal plan was a “non-negotiable condition” for Alberta to make the move.
The plan very carefully attempts to counter accusations that the green energy economy is a federal attempt to completely eliminate the oil and gas industry in Canada.
Ottawa points out that global oil demand will decline by 75% by 2050, and gas demand by about half of what it is today. But it is emphasized that oil and gas will be needed for non-combustion uses, including in plastics, solvents, lubricants and waxes.
Canada can still host a vibrant, albeit smaller, oil and gas industry by 2050, but only by striving to minimize production-related emissions.
“It is in this context that drastically reducing emissions from fossil fuel production, consistent with Canada’s climate commitments, is both a competitive advantage and a source of sustainable jobs,” the plan reads. . “This is something recognized by major Canadian producers, including the New Paths Alliance and the Government of Alberta. »
The federal government also argues that while many people will need training for emerging jobs in green energy and battery production, some workers in the oil sector already have the skills needed to move into emerging sectors such as construction. hydrogen and biofuels.
Adam Legge, president of the Alberta Business Council, believes the province could benefit from Ottawa’s definition of “sustainable jobs.”
“This definition does not appear to exclude jobs in sectors like carbon capture and storage or emissions reduction technologies that would be deployed in industries such as oil and gas or agriculture,” he said. he commented on Friday.