Mr. Chair and honourable committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear today. My name is Larry Rousseau. I'm the executive vice‑president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
The CLC is Canada's largest central labour body speaking on national issues on behalf of three million unionized workers, including tens of thousands of workers in the fossil fuel industry. For years, the CLC has been a passionate national and international advocate of just transition measures, so energy and resource sector workers already understand the grim reality of climate change. They are living it. They get the need to transition to clean and renewable sources of energy, but they insist, and we insist, that the transition benefits workers instead of occurring at their expense. Workers must see their own future reflected in a vision of a net-zero Canada. Otherwise, uncertainty, resentment and opposition will continue to frustrate the accelerated transition needed to meet our climate goals.
Meaningful just transition measures that emphasize creating good green jobs, training and upskilling opportunities, and a path to financial security and retirement for older workers are essential. That extends to supports for affected communities and the families of affected workers. Workers and unions must play a role in the decisions made about their future and the economic future of their communities.
We are eagerly looking forward to a just transition act, a just transition act that enshrines these principles. The Government of Canada recently committed to accelerate the timing of G20 commitments to phase out or rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies from 2025 to 2033. In our view, inefficient fossil fuel subsidies should not continue to flow to very profitable energy companies. These subsidies, together with current windfall profits in the oil and gas industry, should be redirected towards just transition measures, rather than being funnelled into share buybacks, executive bonuses and special dividends that benefit a small minority of wealthy individuals. Instead of subsidizing profitable oil and gas companies, fossil fuel rents should be taxed away and spent on just transition and energy affordability measures.
Mr. Chair, my time is up. I'm ready to answer the members' questions.
Once again, thank you.