Good morning, Mr. Chairman, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I would like to take the opportunity to share with you the perspective of a new sector council. We are just ten months old.
The electricity and renewable energy industry is part of Canada's critical infrastructure. It supports all industries and the well-being of every Canadian. As is said in the industry, we are all connected in the grid.
However, the industry is facing significant challenges because of an aging workforce. Within the next eight years, 40% of Canada's electricity workforce is anticipated to retire. Based on historical retirement patterns, we expect 30% to leave the industry. This reflects the many boomers who are in the industry, as they are in most of our Canadian industries.
We are going to face extensive competition from our colleagues, in all aspects of the labour force, for new employees. Due to the cost restraints of the nineties, Canada has not hired significantly, and it has not sustained sufficient junior replacement positions for the number of retiring electricity and renewable energy workers.
Equally significant is that advances in technology are changing the skills profile of employees and the workforce is growing with infrastructure replacement and expansion. By 2020, we anticipate the equivalent of a third of Canada's current installed capacity in the electricity business will need to be replaced or built new. At the same time that we are losing a significant number of knowledge workers from our industry, we are facing a huge amount of infrastructure refurbishment, replacement, and new build.
The industry is found in all regions and jurisdictions of Canada, in large and small communities, and in rural and urban environments. Workers for the industry are highly skilled and well supported by industry training programs. The electricity industry in Canada invests six times the national average in every worker. The majority of positions require post-secondary education and professional, trade, technical, or engineering certification.
Across Canada, the industry has a varied corporate structure. In some provinces, there is a holding by the province; in others there is a mix of governmental ownership, both provincial and municipal; and in some provinces, it is fully privatized. The majority of the industry is subject to rate regulation and consequently a highly controlled revenue stream. Canada has some of the lowest electricity rates in the world.
Regulatory authorities can define the areas where firms undertake operations and the nature of their investment in human infrastructure. Regulators that have the best of intentions to control consumer power costs often constrain the efforts of the industry to address the pending workforce retirements. They treat workforce development as a cost centre, as opposed to an infrastructure.
Other countries are facing similar aging workforce profiles. We are going to be extremely challenged as an industry and a business to develop new talent for our industry.
Consequently, our industry members, Electro-Federation, the Electricity Association, the Nuclear Association, and various renewable energy organizations, together with our four largest unions, CUPE, IBEW, the Power Workers, and the Society of Energy Professionals, gathered together in 2005 to respond to the results of a 2004 study supported by the Government of Canada, which provided the data I gave you, to create an electricity sector council.
Our industry used the sector council program as a significant initiative to support workforce development. We are extremely pleased to be supported in this way by the Government of Canada. We bring focus to workforce initiatives as sector councils, and we represent, in a non-partisan fashion, all key stakeholders. Our boards include educators, labour organizations, industry members, as well as regulatory authorities for occupational standards and related stakeholders.
With me today is board member Norm Fraser. Norm will share the industry perspective with you.