Bill C-50

Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act

An Act respecting accountability, transparency and engagement to support the creation of sustainable jobs for workers and economic growth in a net-zero economy

This enactment establishes an accountability, transparency and engagement framework to facilitate and promote economic growth, the creation of sustainable jobs and support for workers and communities in Canada in the shift to a net-zero economy. Accordingly, the enactment
(a) provides that the Governor in Council may designate a Minister for the purposes of the Act as well as specified Ministers;
(b) establishes a Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council to provide the Minister and the specified Ministers, through a process of social dialogue, with independent advice with respect to measures to foster the creation of sustainable jobs, measures to support workers, communities and regions in the shift to a net-zero economy and matters referred to it by the Minister;
(c) requires the tabling of a Sustainable Jobs Action Plan in each House of Parliament no later than 2026 and by the end of each subsequent period of five years;
(d) provides for the establishment of a Sustainable Jobs Secretariat to support the implementation of the Act; and
(e) provides for a review of the Act within ten years of its coming into force and by the end of each subsequent period of ten years.

Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay can continue his speech.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will not be intimidated by a group of climate change deniers. I will continue to speak facts. They can interrupt me all night long—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton is rising on a point of order.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have been clear. I have stood in this House. I have talked about plans for climate change reduction. It is offensive that the member opposite is saying that we are climate change deniers.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Before we continue on debate, I suggest all members look at their phones. There is an email that would have gone out from the Speaker's office about decorum in this House of Commons to make sure that we follow those rules, try to get along better and try not to accuse people of things.

The hon. deputy House leader.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I am just seeking clarification on your ruling. Are you saying that the term “climate change denier” is unparliamentary?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

There were lots of words in here. I just want to say that people can take time to actually review it and maybe the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay can finish up with his speech.

The hon. member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands, once again.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

On that same point of order, though, Mr. Speaker, it was the Speaker, from the Liberal Party, who said that the issue was to try to get people to not use inflammatory language, which we are hearing from the member for Timmins—James Bay—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

That is a part of the inflammatory language that is outlined in that document.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the issue raised was an attempt to intimidate and stop members from speaking. I will not be intimidated.

I will continue to speak even if it takes all night. I will speak out about climate change denial, even if I am interrupted relentlessly. These are the facts of this bill. I will continue to speak on behalf of the work that is being done, particularly the work we have done with energy workers.

I was speaking about the urgency. I spoke about the urgency of the climate crisis, and that certainly triggered the Conservatives. I spoke of the urgency of what the International Energy Agency is reporting, warning governments against continuing to invest in the fossil fuel industry because they are going to be stranded assets. The urgency is at the point that we are now reaching peak oil by 2025-30. We have this falsehood that if we continue to build infrastructure, we could ignore science, the economy and reality, which is something the Conservatives have done for so long.

I would like to speak to one other element of urgency in getting this legislation passed, which is the fact that the United States, under the IRA, in a single year, has created what is being called economic shock waves for their investments in clean tech. This is a game-changer of unprecedented proportions.

Again, I do not know any jurisdiction on the planet that chases away investment, but I know how upset the Conservatives are whenever we talk about what is happening in the United States. Offshore wind, under Joe Biden, in a single year, is moving to 40 gigawatts of power. The Vineyard Wind project would run 400,000 homes on cheap, clean energy. The Conservatives do not want Canadians to know that because they want to continue to promote coal and oil. There is 146 billion dollars worth of investment in the United States in offshore wind. This is something the Conservatives would shut down in a second.

We are seeing right now, within one year, 86,000 new permanent jobs, and 50,000 in EV. What we have seen is the Conservatives, again and again, ridiculing investments in battery technology and EV technology. We had the member who lives in Stornoway, which I do not believe is in his riding, show up in Timmins—James Bay to ridicule the critical mineral strategy, in a mining town. For God's sake, the guy has had a paper route. However, here is a man who comes into a mining region and makes fun of EV technology, when our communities and our workers are going to be ones building this new technology, and we are investing in it. We will push the government to continue to invest.

The legislation was very problematic for New Democrats. There was not a lot there. We pushed hard by working with labour and union workers who are on the front lines. One of the key places we went to was Alberta. We hear Conservatives talk about workers in Alberta, but they do not talk to them. They misrepresent them. We met with the electrical workers. We met with the construction workers. We met with the boiler workers.

We asked them what they wanted, and they said that they know the world is changing around them. Forty-five thousand jobs have been lost in oil and gas at a time of record profits, and the workers know those jobs are not coming back. Suncor fired 1,500 workers this year. Richie Rich Kruger, its CEO, bragged to his investors about the urgency, at a time of climate crisis, to make as much money as possible. He said he would target workers, that he would make every one of those workers in Suncor prove their worth if they were going to keep their jobs. It is taking record profits, over $200 billion, to big oil. It is putting it into stock buybacks and automation.

The workers knew there was no future. They told us they wanted a seat at the table. That is something New Democrats fought for in this legislation. Is it enough? No. We want to make sure that we have labour represented in the regional round tables that are moving forward. The idea of the Liberal government meeting with Danielle Smith without labour is a ridiculous proposition.

Here is the thing, there is no place on the planet that was more ready for the clean tech revolution than Alberta. In fact, just last Christmas, they were talking about the solar gold rush in Alberta. Just this past July, they were talking about how Alberta was set to become the clean energy capital of the world. Then Danielle Smith stepped up and shut it down. That was $33 billion. Here we go again—

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I believe we are talking about federal legislation and Bill C-50. The member keeps going off track, referring to provincial legislation in a province he does not live in, a province his party does not care about.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

That is falling into debate.

I would remind members to come back to the bill we are debating.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will give you my notes afterward because, obviously, this is what we are talking about. I see there is very thin skin in Conservative country when one talks about their attempts to chase out investment.

Here is the thing with Danielle Smith. There were 33 billion dollars' worth of investments in clean tech killed in Alberta. If we were to talk to anybody in the clean tech industry internationally, they will recognize we are from Canada and ask where our project is. If we say Alberta, it is done. Why is that? It is because nobody is going to invest in a jurisdiction with a premier who is out to kill jobs. That is why this legislation is important. We have to have workers at the table, and we have to protect the potential for new investments.

Yes, we were meeting with workers in Alberta because we understood that these were serious issues, while Danielle Smith and the Conservatives over there, under the member for Stornoway, were talking about killing those jobs. What were they doing? Who were they meeting with?

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I did take the liberty of pulling out the declaration on order and decorum in the House by the Speaker yesterday. In there, it says:

...the growing tendency to make pointed criticisms in a way that is unnecessarily personal and designed to denigrate, bully, elicit an emotional reaction or attack the integrity of the person introduces a toxicity into our proceedings that hampers our ability to get things done. This includes coming up with fake titles for members in order to mock them....

The hon. member just said “the member for Stornoway”, so I seek your guidance on this, Mr. Speaker, because this was your declaration, and I am asking you to enforce it.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I thank the member for that. He does make a very good point when it comes to the decorum of the House and things that the Speaker wants us to think about when making speeches. Making up names occurs on all sides of the House. Maybe we should stop doing it, period.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.