Environment commissioner doesn’t believe federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic excuse for not yet doing anything to ensure workers in polluting sectors aren’t left behind in project of Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
“It is essential that the government quickly put in place a law on just transition and a system for managing this file, which is very important for many working communities,” said commissioner Jerry DeMarco, in margin of the Tuesday tabling of five reports critical of government action on the environment.
However, “Officials from Natural Resources Canada have informed us that because of the coronavirus disease [COVID-19] and the oil shock of March 2020, the ministry had delayed its work on drafting a law relating to the just transition to a low-carbon economy”, can we read in the report devoted to this subject.
“I’m not buying this,” Commissioner DeMarco dropped when asked to comment on the pandemic excuse. He recalled that the government has been committed to reducing its emissions by speaking of “just transition” for many years. “They decided to put a pause on the just transition during [la pandémie de] COVID. It’s a choice they made. »
Just Transition Pledge
The federal government has promised workers in the most polluting sectors not to forget them when reconverting the economy in order to meet greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets for the next few years. Canada has pledged to reduce its emissions by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, and to become carbon neutral by 2050. Such a plan heralds job change for thousands of workers, first place those of coal, then those of oil and gas, among others.
No one in government, however, has been tasked with reporting on the progress of this “just transition”. At most, Natural Resources Canada was to draft a law on this subject, which was not done in the time promised. This ministry is still very ill-prepared, notes the environment commissioner.
“Although new legislation was planned for 2021, there was no federal implementation plan, formal governance structure, or tracking and reporting system in place. »
First the coal
The Commissioner notes that the government should improve programs that have been put in place in some provinces for the transition out of the coal industry, “generic” programs that have proven to be poorly designed and without particular sensitivity for underprivileged groups. portrayed as Aboriginal people or women. “They haven’t been active in just transition in Alberta,” criticizes DeMarco.
As a producer of fossil fuels, this province would be particularly affected by the shortcomings in terms of “just transition”, just like Saskatchewan, but also Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The commissioner notes that in the past, Canada has experienced catastrophic economic transitions, such as the collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1992.
Another report tabled on Tuesday shows that the federal government remains vague in its own plans to reduce its GHGs, in particular with National Defence, its largest emitter. The commissioner also notes that the federal government has overestimated hydrogen technology to reduce the country’s emissions, and considers that the federal government allows too many provinces to grant rebates on the price of carbon to their major emitters.