Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #37 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was saskatchewan.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #37 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was saskatchewan.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, Mr. Lemire.
Mr. Cannings, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Thank you.
Ms. Seagrave, you mentioned in your opening remarks how many jobs the companies you've been involved with have created. I think it was 5,200. That's obviously a small fraction of the clean-tech green jobs in Canada. Do you have any idea how big that clean-tech sector is in Canada and what the projections are for job growth there?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada
That's actually a great question. Stats Canada has had a hard time mobilizing the numbers around exactly what clean tech entails, because all sectors and all industries are actually doing clean tech in some way, shape or form. That goes back to the adaptation and adoption of technologies to help reduce things like water use, energy consumption, you name it.
With regard to the 5,200 jobs that the companies we've invested in have created, those are all HQPs, or highly qualified professionals. These are individuals with a multitude of university degrees in engineering, science, business, you name it. Without knowing the exact numbers of jobs that are represented by the “clean-tech” sector in Canada, I would say that it's significant and is only going to be growing moving forward.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
We talk about this transition. Mr. Erskine-Smith referenced remarks by the Alberta Energy Regulator about the transition that's happening. You have groups like Iron and Earth, which are very concerned about jobs that are currently in the oil and gas sector. Those workers see those jobs disappearing and want to be retrained and to find new jobs. We have a clean-tech sector, from what I understand—I've heard various numbers, from 80,000 to 100,000 or whatever—the size of which is on par with that of the oil and gas sector, and it's growing.
What I would hope to see is that a framework like the one we're talking about today would try to develop that sector and provide those jobs—and provide them now, because this is when workers need them.
I'm wondering if you could comment on that whole growth.
4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada
I think something to mention is that building out the green economy and green jobs in the clean-tech sector, whether it's in the Prairies or across the country, doesn't mean putting an end to the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas will be here for a very long time to come. They play an important role in the push to net zero, and they're a vital part of Canada's economy. So I agree with a lot of the comments that have been made by the witnesses.
That said, we are already moving towards green and renewables, and, as you said, that is where the jobs will be going. The automotive sector was mentioned just a bit by one of the other witnesses. It might be of interest to you that making car materials such as seat foams.... For instance, in the Ford Mustang, probably the most “manly” car that's been produced over the last 25 years, the seats have been made from soy in the last 15 years. The side panels have been made from hemp. Roof materials have been made from flax.
What's happening is that this transition is helping to provide and build stronger domestic biomass supply chains for our farmers so that they can weather the economic uncertainty that happens and the trade disputes that happen. All of these have been brought up over the last hour that we've been talking.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you very much, Mr. Cannings and Ms. Seagrave.
We'll now move to Mr. Mazier for five minutes.
October 6th, 2022 / 4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Orb and Ms. Brownlee, when Manitoba proposed an environmental plan, it was called the Manitoba green plan. It was very detailed. It included carbon tax exemptions for farmers, which were very important to our agriculture sector, but it also included a focus on conservation through nature-based solutions, so it was a very good, robust plan.
Unfortunately, despite the great work done throughout extensive consultations with Manitobans, Ottawa rejected the plan because it didn't align with its “Ottawa knows best” approach. How counterproductive is it when Ottawa overrules the locally based work of provinces?
Mr. Orb, you can start.
4:55 p.m.
President, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities
Well, that's quite unfortunate, and I think something very similar happened here in Saskatchewan when our province put forward a plan to take the place of the federally imposed carbon tax. We were basically told that we copied or tried to copy what New Brunswick had done, but the federal government said no, it wouldn't accept that even though it had accepted it from another province.
So it's very disconcerting and it seems to us that it's very political. We even see this proposed bill as being political because we feel as though fingers are being pointed at the prairie provinces, in particular Saskatchewan, because we produce a lot of food, a lot of grain, a lot of pulse crops and things like that. We feel that the fingers are being pointed at farmers, when farmers aren't the problem. We've already shown how much they're doing towards sustainability and protecting our environment, and yet we're not being rewarded for that. Instead, it seems as though we're being penalized.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
I guess that's two for two then, two provinces.
Ms. Brownlee, do you have anything to add?
5 p.m.
Conservative
5 p.m.
President, Alberta Enterprise Group
It's very counterproductive.
I agree with Mr. Orb. As a province, Alberta has been on the leading edge of technology and formulating the most effective programs to combat climate change, while nurturing essential economies. Adding red tape to our efforts would only injure the Prairies and have a crippling effect on the world.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
MP Carr stated in the last meeting, “We've failed continuously in aligning our political interests to the real interests of prairie folk.” Now we are studying this bill and he wants to give more power to the political interests in Ottawa. Do you think that the political interests in Ottawa in this bill align with the interests of prairie folk?
I can start with Ms. Ness.
5 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Safety First, As an Individual
We do not.
5 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Safety First, As an Individual
I feel that, especially for the oil and gas industry, we're constantly under scrutiny and it's getting tiring. We need to be able to run our industry and do what we do best.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Does anybody else have anything to add?
Go ahead, Ms. Brownlee.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Mr. Bewick, we haven't heard anything out of you for a while.
5 p.m.
Executive Director, Fairness Alberta
As I indicated, we want to see support and we want to see a federal government that's proud of how remarkable our energy sector is, how completely valuable it is to the rest of the world, more than ever, and how it can help with energy security in Europe and carbon emissions in Asia.
We should be supporting it and increasing it, not finding ways to transition away from it.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
If a piece of legislation that impacts only the prairie provinces does not have the support of any of the provincial governments, do you think Parliament should pass it?
I'll go through the list. Go ahead, Ms. Ness.