The long-awaited sustainable jobs plan that lays out how the government of Canada plans to help train workers for roles in the coming clean energy economy as the world aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 has been unveiled on Friday.
The plan as announced includes steps such as setting up a sustainable jobs secretariat to coordinate government policies and a partnership council to promote consultation with provinces, labour unions and others and it is expected to be backed by legislation later in the year.
Although the document did not outline any new government spending, the government said parts of its plan include improving labour market data collection and advance funding for skills development and will release a new sustainable jobs plan every five years beginning from 2025.
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“Canada has what it takes to become the clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was quoted as saying in a news release after the announcement.
Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised a legislation for sustainable jobs in 2019. However, the concept of retraining workers for clean energy jobs, also called a “Just Transition”, has been met with several controversies in places like the crude-producing province Alberta, where the conservative Premier Danielle Smith has accused Trudeau of wanting to phase out the oil and gas sector.
Smith said in a statement on Friday that the Alberta government is “perplexed” by the jobs plan not mentioning a liquefied natural gas export strategy and has “grave concerns” about it not recognising the provinces’ right to manage their own natural resources, .
“This kind of dysfunctional communication by the federal government with our province cannot continue if Canada is to have any chance of achieving its 2050 emissions reduction targets,” she said.
But according to the document, the federal government said enormous clean energy opportunities are emerging in oil-producing provinces, from hydrogen to critical minerals and there will also be sustainable jobs in conventional energy industries as Canadian producers aim to lower the carbon intensity of their crude, .
“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,” the plan said.
Meanwhile, think-tanks Clean Energy Canada expects jobs in the sector will grow by 3.4% annually over the next decade, nearly four times faster than the Canadian average.
On Thursday, Smith wrote to Trudeau offering to collaborate with the federal government on developing carbon capture and storage incentives, but only if Ottawa secured Alberta’s consent on climate policies that affect oil and gas, including clean energy jobs legislation.
Adapted from Reuters
