Good afternoon. My name is Mark Rowlinson. I'm the president of the board of Blue Green Canada.
Thank you for having this consultation. I apologize that we don't have any written materials for the committee, but we will try to get you some in short order.
Blue Green Canada unites Canada's largest private sector labour unions and its most influential environmental and civil society organizations to identify ways in which today's environmental challenges can create and maintain quality jobs to build a stronger, fairer economy. Our guiding principle is that Canadians should not have to choose between addressing climate change and a strong economy. Unfortunately, an increasing part of our national conversation.... We see that this issue has become increasingly divisive at many levels of government and in parts of Canada.
The focus of my short remarks today will be on two areas where I think the federal government should look seriously at addressing this issue through the budget: first, the need for Canada to commit to and ensure a just transition for workers and communities impacted by climate action, beginning with those impacted by the phase-out of coal-fired power generation; and second, the Government of Canada should commit to considering the environment when making purchasing and infrastructure funding decisions and choose to buy clean and buy Canadian.
On the issue of just transition, in our view, the Government of Canada cannot afford to ignore the wide-ranging impacts of its action on climate change on the economy and the working people. For the economy and the environment to truly go hand in hand, government must acknowledge workers' concerns and anxieties that reducing GHG emissions will negatively affect the livelihoods of some Canadians and hurt some economies.
We cannot replace stable, good-paying jobs with precarious, low-wage work and leave workers and communities behind if we are to successfully transition to a low-carbon economy. For those most affected, taking action on climate change is simply not worth it if it means risking the well-being of their families and communities. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the Government of Canada, working closely with the provinces, communities, employers, unions and workers, put in place measures that would help workers and communities successfully navigate through the transition to a low-carbon economy. The government must provide supports—a bridge—to what is next as we transition in this economy.
Budget 2018 provided $35 million over five years in funding to support skills development and economic diversification activities to help workers in the west and Atlantic Canada transition to a low-carbon economy, but we're here to say that much more is going to be needed over the coming years. We're going to need to build capacities in communities for economic development. We're going to need to fund community-led projects and transition plans. We're going to need to establish a package of supports for workers, as well as local transition centres. Before we even do any of those things, we need to establish an inventory of all the workers who are going to be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy.
What is done in Canada to support a just transition to a low-carbon economy will have far-reaching consequences beyond the workers, families and communities directly affected. Other countries are going to be looking at Canada as an example of how to put people at the centre of progressive climate policy. Frankly, if we don't start to address the issues that are of concern to the tens of thousands of workers in this country whose lives are directly connected to fossil fuels and high-carbon industries, this issue is simply going to become more and more divisive in our national conversation.
The second area that I want to highlight quickly for the committee is the need to consider the environment when making purchases on infrastructure spending. Through procurement and infrastructure spending, Canada has an opportunity to leverage its strength in clean technology, particularly in the transportation sector. The government can meet its goals of reducing emissions while maintaining and strengthening Canada's economic competitiveness.
To ensure that the government receives true value for money over the long term, including avoiding the burgeoning costs of climate change on infrastructure, Canada should incorporate life-cycle assessment into procurement policies and infrastructure spending programs. This would enable a full cost-benefit analysis across the life of a product or an asset, and provide a measure of the impacts directly attributable to the functioning of the product, asset or system throughout its life.
Those are just the two highlight points that we wanted to emphasize in our brief remarks to the committee. We look forward to any questions or discussions you may have.
As I said, we'll be following up with a further written submission as part of this consultation process.
Thank you very much for your time.