MP Charlie Angus (second from right) visiting the IBEW 424 local in Edmonton, August, 2022.

By Charlie Angus

September 26, 2022

At some time in the coming months, the Trudeau government will have to show its hand on energy and the climate crisis. They have committed to bringing forward “just transition” legislation by the New Year. That legislation is supposed to be a road map for transitioning Canada’s economy in the face of potentially catastrophic climate change. So far, the talk from the government about what this transition actually entails has been mostly vague and aspirational. And this worries energy workers, who fear that they and their families will be left behind.

First thing, let’s dispel the Conservative-driven myth that energy workers are defiantly holding the line and demanding ever-more production of oil and gas. Far from it. I have been meeting with energy workers in Western Canada who are already seeing this transition-in-progress. The big spending on fossil fuel infrastructure expansion and exploration is becoming more elusive and industry is now focused on making money from efficiencies and automation.

The energy workers I’ve talked to are more than ready to move forward with a clean energy economy. They have the skills and knowledge to make this transition possible. The only problem is that government isn’t inviting them to the table.

What adds to the uncertainty is the fact that the Trudeau government has missed every climate promise it has made, reinforcing the impression that the government’s actions seem more performative than substantive. Ever since the prime minister went to Paris and told the world that “Canada is back”, the government has made a series of dramatic climate promises on the international stage, subsequently failing to meet its targets and leaving us at the back of the pack of the G7 on climate action.

For example, at COP26 in Glasgow, the prime minister promised to implement an emissions cap. It was a dramatic moment. The problem is, the government hadn’t bothered to engage in any consultations with key stakeholders to determine whether the cap was possible. The cap appears no closer today than when it was announced. Little wonder that Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner Jerry V. DeMarco bluntly declared in his 2021 report that the government needed to stop going “from failure to failure,” on its carbon emissions policy. “We need action and results, not just more targets and plans.”

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act implemented by Barack Obama and managed by then-Vice President Biden invested more than $90 billion and leveraged another $150 billion for the clean energy transition. By 2017, the green investments in the 2009 act had created 640,000 jobs per year, mostly in manual labour work.

Compare this with President Joe Biden, who used his platform at COP26 to commit to a clean energy economy based on “good-paying, union jobs.” And he is following through. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is putting money on the table to kick-start a multitude of clean energy projects.

Biden’s language about good-paying, union jobs isn’t just a play for buy-in from the industrial working class, it sends a message to investors that the United States is serious about creating opportunities in the clean energy sector. And Biden has the track record to prove it. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act implemented by Barack Obama and managed by then-Vice President Biden invested more than $90 billion and leveraged another $150 billion for the clean energy transition. By 2017, the green investments in the 2009 act had created 640,000 jobs per year, mostly in manual labour work.

Biden’s recent commitment to invest in a massive overhaul of the energy grid through the Inflation Reduction Act is expected to create about 9 million clean energy jobs over the next decade, according to an analysis from the Political Economy Research Institute at UMass Amherst. He also promised to build 500,000 EV charging stations, utilizing the skills of the IBEW electrical union.

For instance, I know the IBEW workers at Local 424 in Edmonton. They have a state-of-the-art training centre that keeps their members up-to-date on the latest advances in solar, wind, EV and other new clean energy technologies. They are trained up and ready to go for this transition. It’s just that nobody at the federal or provincial level has stepped up with a vision to use their invaluable skills at a time when transformational thinking is essential.

Canada should be a world leader in clean energy production. A recent study by Calgary Economic Development calculated that the global energy transition will create a $61 billion opportunity for Alberta alone.

So how do we make Canada’s just transition a good-paying jobs transition?

First and foremost, the prime minister needs to send a strong message to investors and to working families that he actually has a vision for moving Canada forward amid the looming climate crisis. That vision must be rooted in showing that Canada is ready to compete with the United States on securing investment in clean tech.

But that is going to take a serious commitment of money. In the United States, Biden has set up a Green Bank to entice investors. Trudeau needs to establish a similar one-stop shop — a Crown corporation for green energy investments would be a dramatic step that would send a message that Canada is open to creating a truly clean-energy future.

And most of all, he needs to be tapping the immense skills and experience of Canada’s energy workers and innovators. They know how to get things done.

Biden is out of the gate on the clean energy future. Canada cannot be left behind. It’s time to get down to the business of creating a strong and confident clean-energy economy.

Charlie Angus has been the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay since 2004. He is the NDP critic for Natural Resources and the Just Transition, federal economic development, initiative for Northern Ontario, Indigenous youth, and deputy critic for labour.