Federal government releases sustainable jobs plan

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 32-page plan comes more than three years after the federal Liberals promised a strategy to protect jobs as Canada adjusts from a combustion-energy powerhouse to a clean-energy economy.

The plan does not set a job creation target or predict how many jobs it will create in the sustainable energy sector. The government news release points to a Royal Bank of Canada report that says Canada could add up to 400,000 clean energy jobs through its efforts to transition to net zero.

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. 

On Thursday, Smith wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to put the plan on ice because it poses "an unconstitutional and existential threat to the Alberta economy and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Albertans."

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.

"We're pleased that the Liberal government is recognizing the huge opportunity of embracing a clean energy future," Charlie Angus, the NDP critic for natural resources, said in a media statement. 

"But the question is whether or not the government will back up these positive words with the massive investments required to kick-start a clean energy future."

The plan says global demand for oil will be down 75 per cent by 2050, and demand for gas will be about half of what it is today. But it also says oil and gas will be needed for non-combustion uses, such as plastics, solvents, lubricants and waxes.

Amara Possian of 350.org, an environmental organization, said the plan doesn't go far enough.

"This plan leaves too much room for the fossil fuel industry to block progress. Taking the climate emergency seriously means no more public money for false solutions like carbon capture, utilization and storage that will only lock workers into the dying fossil fuel era," she said in a media statement.

"Canadians deserve a plan that aligns with climate science, guarantees a good, unionized, green job to anyone who wants one, and puts people first, not corporate profits."