The federal government on Friday released a plan to create sustainable jobs that aims to transition workers away from the fossil fuel industry and toward clean energy.
The interim plan, which will guide the government’s “just transition” approach from 2023 to 2025, includes the establishment of a new training centre for sustainable jobs and a new government advisory body. The government will develop a full sustainable jobs plan every five years starting in 2025.
“Canada has what it takes to become the clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world,” Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of natural resources, said in a news release.
“With this plan, the federal government is taking yet another step forward to ensure that Canada’s workers have the skills and support necessary to seize this generational opportunity.”
The plan comes after two years of government consultation with provinces and territories, industry, Indigenous peoples, unions and other stakeholders.
The government’s plans to move to a clean energy economy have prompted criticism among some Alberta government officials, including Premier Danielle Smith. Smith has said the “just transition” plan will eliminate jobs in Alberta’s oil and gas sector, and Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has called on the federal government to drop transition legislation it plans to introduce later this year.
But the plan says a labour shortage is more of a concern than unemployment among energy workers.
“According to numerous studies, rather than a shortage of jobs, in Canada we are much more likely to see an abundance of sustainable jobs with a shortage of workers required to fill them,” it reads.
The federal government has set targets of reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Around the world, financial markets are increasingly pricing climate risk into investment decisions. Smart money is flowing away from assets that are not compatible with a transition to a net-zero world, and towards opportunities that are,” the plan reads.
“We need to skate to where the puck is going.”
“What Canada needs now is a dedicated plan for workers in a net-zero future. A plan that outlines how we will keep workers at the heart of Canada’s energy sector for decades to come. A plan to create jobs, to create prosperity.”
The document says the government will introduce legislation later in 2023 which will lay out the government’s plans on accountability, engagement and transparency on the transition to sustainable jobs.
