Evidence of meeting #21 for Natural Resources in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was need.
A video is available from Parliament.
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
No. I don't have that number, but I could find it.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
No worries at all.
It's safe to say that we would be adding tens of thousands of more jobs to that 522,000 that we talked about there.
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
That's correct.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
We should consider them all in one pool when we talk about any sort of transition of their jobs. The public officials, the service officials, the steelmaking, the high tech, and the oil and gas producers and service companies are all in one pool, would you say?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
That sounds reasonable.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
I think so too. Thank you.
How much does your industry contribute on average to Canadian governments at all levels per year? Do you know?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
That number is continually evolving, but our latest estimates are looking like $20 billion as the average to all orders of government in Canada. I would reference as well budget 2022, which had 45% higher corporate tax revenues as a result of higher commodity prices. A big part of that is the export of oil and gas from Canada.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Any narrative around your industry being a subsidized industry by the Canadian government would be probably very uninformed, would you say?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
It would be highly uninformed. I would be happy to share with the committee our recent submission on subsidies. This has been studied extensively by ECCC and the Department of Finance. We are not a subsidized industry. We are a significant contributor to Canada's economy.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Thank you very much.
We talk about the evolution of energy supply and demand. You mentioned hydrogen, but there's also carbon capture, utilization and storage, all of which are about decarbonizing our energy supply chain. Where do you think those jobs are going to come from? They're going to be highly technical. People will be trained in the sciences but will also have some technical training in the field. Where do you think those jobs will most likely come from?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Our industry has made significant commitments around emissions reductions. Our oil sands producers have committed to be net zero. Carbon capture and sequestration are an important part of that. The kinds of economies of scale and volumes and concentrations we're talking about means that our industry is going to be an important starting point for carbon capture and sequestration in Canada.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Thank you.
As you touched on this in your comments, can you tell me how many jobs are associated with your members' building of LNG Canada, the largest project that's ever been built in Canada? Could you tell me how many people are employed in that build, please?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
It's many thousands, both in terms of the facility itself and the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is still being constructed, which will supply that facility with energy. Given global demand, there's a lot of interest in seeing how to maybe expand that project.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
That's interesting.
Can you also tell me what percentage of those workers on those two combined projects are indigenous workers? Is that available?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Indigenous peoples represent I think around 6%. We are double any other sector in Canada's economy or the average Canadian sector. We could look for more specific details. Those projects also have benefit agreements that include employment, training and things like that, so there will be a higher percentage of indigenous people participating.
I would point out there is significant participation of nations, such as the Haisla and other coastal nations, in LNG Canada. Of course, very recently 20 first nations secured an equity stake of 10% in the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Many nations are finding a path to prosperity but also to global emissions reductions.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Thank you very much. I'm just short of time here. I apologize.
Just as a comparison, how many jobs are involved in building the 12 facilities in the United States for LNG export that are either built or in the process of being built right now? Do you know how much employment was involved in those builds?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
There is very significant employment, and I can find the numbers. Of course, there's growth there now because of global demand.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Would there be similar numbers employed in Australia as they have continued to ramp up LNG export for the world's needs as well?
Vice-President, Government Relations and Indigenous Affairs, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Yes.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Julie Dabrusin Liberal Toronto—Danforth, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My first question is for Clean Energy Canada. At one point you were talking about job creation and jobs in the future economy. I was wondering if you could give me, at a high level, the types of future jobs you see. What industries do you see as having big employment opportunities as we go forward in a low-carbon economy?
Chief Innovation Officer, Clean Energy Canada
Thank you. That's a great question.
There will be jobs in energy production, whether that's clean hydrogen or electricity transmission, etc. These are highly skilled and well-paid jobs. There will be jobs in transportation as well. I brought up the whole piece about transitioning to electric vehicles in the auto sector, and we're already seeing a huge number of jobs there, which is forecast to be growing.
Another area is buildings in terms of retrofits and installation of HVAC systems. There's actually the potential for enormous numbers of jobs for electricians and construction workers, etc., as we retrofit and renovate our building stock to be more efficient and transition it into cleaner sources of energy such as electric heat pumps and cooling systems.
Then there are a couple of other areas of jobs growth, as I mentioned, around batteries. I'm not able to provide you with exact numbers there from the mining sector for the critical metals and minerals up to refining. Canada could do more refining in order to feed into the cathode, anode and cell development and the building out of the whole battery supply, linking in with the auto sector. In the last six months, we've seen that Canada has actually really started to land some of those big projects and the jobs that go with them.
As is the case in the fossil fuel sector or any sector, when you're building clean energy projects, they create thousands of jobs in the construction phase and then they continue with ongoing jobs. There's been a report out of Iron and Earth in the U.S.—and I'm really keen for Iron and Earth in Canada do one as well—that shows that there's about a 90% skill transition between our existing energy workers and the clean energy workers of the future.
However, I do support exactly what was said around upskilling and helping position people for those jobs.
