Natural Resources Committee on March 21st, 2023

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

The program works with initial recipients who were selected through a two-year inclusive competitive call for proposals to distribute funds to employers and youth. The initial recipients were the UN Association in Canada, the Environmental Careers Organization of Canada, Electricity Human Resources Canada and the Clean Foundation. They are responsible for the selection of employers and youth, and have demonstrated strong results in reaching youth experiencing barriers to employment in the past.

The additional 150 youth placements will be created by existing initial recipients, and they will be based on their capacity to take on additional placements this late in the fiscal year and their ability to serve youth experiencing barriers, including indigenous youth, racialized youth, youth living with disabilities, northern youth and those living in remote communities.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Minister, how will NRCan measure the success of this initiative, and what steps will be taken to ensure that it's meeting its objectives in terms of providing meaningful training and employment opportunities for young people in the natural resources sector?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

The contribution agreements between NRCan and initial recipients include several targets on which we report regularly to the Treasury Board Secretariat to ensure that the objectives of the youth employment and skills strategy are met and that youth are provided with meaningful training and employment opportunities in the sector. Again, we're on track to create a total of 400 youth placements with 60% employment equity.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Minister.

The next question is about internship partners. How will NRCan work with other government departments and agency partners involved in the youth employment and skills strategy to ensure that young people from diverse backgrounds—and Skyview is one of the most diverse ridings in Canada—are aware of and have access to these training and internship opportunities?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

We've adapted the program in response to feedback from participants in the program and from employers to ensure that young people from diverse backgrounds can access training and work experience opportunities.

The program works with the initial recipients that I talked about to ensure that programming is accessible in urban, rural and remote communities across Canada. Working with small, regional and indigenous-focused initial recipients has increased awareness of the program in under-represented communities. We've been very responsive to feedback and certainly have used varied means of communication to conduct the different kinds of outreach.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Minister.

Does NRCan plan to build on the success of this initiative beyond March 31 of this year and to continue to support people in the natural resources sector in the long term?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Absolutely. This is a really great program. I've met a number of the young people who are actually involved in it, and certainly, we have received two years of funding for the time being. We will use this funding to continue to build on the success of this initiative and to support young people as they seek to enter the natural resources sector workforce.

We have also recently launched, I should note, Natural Resources Canada's first-ever ministerial youth council, which will be utilized to ensure that we keep this momentum going by hearing from young climate and energy leaders on what more we should be doing.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Minister, for those in-depth answers.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We're out of time there.

We're going to move over now to Mr. Simard, who will have two and half minutes.

You left off a conversation. I'll let you decide if you want to pick it up or move on to something else.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, on November 9 last, I published a letter in the Journal de Montréal on the sale of Resolute Forest Products to Asian Pulp and Paper. I don't know if you've read it, but I invite you to do so. It's very well written.

We brought this matter to the attention of the government a while ago. On January 31, several unions and I met with your colleague Mr. Champagne to raise some of our concerns with him.

As for you, did you only find out recently about the sale or were you already aware that Resolute Forest Products had already been sold a while ago?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

No. It was on the news for a month or two. That's where we heard about it, and there had obviously been discussions between the two companies. However, the issue was brought to the attention of the government after a deal was made between the two companies.

As I said, security agencies had...

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I understand.

I'll tell you what people in the business see as being the main problem.

The former owner of Resolute Forest Products, Fairfax, did not invest a lot in Resolute's facilities. By the way, these people own a quarter of Quebec's forests. Some people thought Asian Pulp and Paper would save jobs and the business, even if that seemed implausible. However, the main problem is that forestry companies, such as Resolute Forest Products, get nothing at all from the federal government. The Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, or IFIT, is chronically underfunded. That's what people in the business say: if you're a small forestry producer, don't even think about getting funding from Canada Economic Development for the Quebec Regions. Your application will be rejected outright because you will be redirected to Global Affairs Canada.

Isn't the basic problem with the sale of Resolute Forest Products the lack of financial support from the federal government?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

The Department of Natural Resources does make investments. We invested nearly $200 million in the forestry sector to promote its products, in particular value-added products. Of course, we had discussions not only with Resolute Forest Products, but also with other companies.

That said, this transaction happened between two private companies, and the role of government is to conduct an investigation, which falls to Mr. Champagne, under the Investment Canada Act.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We're out of time on that round.

We'll now go to Mr. Angus for two and half minutes.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

Joe Biden is coming to town. He's a friend, an ally and also a major competitor. He's not going to give us any advantage unless we take advantage.

I say that because Canadian companies in critical minerals and Canadian companies in clean energy are going up against multiple state-backed foreign entities that are investing heavily: Australia, Japan and even the U.S. Department of State.

Given the stakes we're facing, is this government looking at taking an equity stake in critical mineral projects? If so, how would that work?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Angus, I certainly would agree with you that the Inflation Reduction Act has created some significant competitive pressures in a number of areas, not simply in critical minerals. That is a concern that is shared with our friends in Europe, with our friends in Japan and with our friends in Australia, in part because of the nature of the subsidies that they've done through production tax credits, which are quite different from investment tax credits and far more generous over the long term.

This is something that we absolutely are looking at with respect to not only critical minerals but other areas that are deemed to be strategically important for the future of the Canadian economy, and how we need to use instruments such as the strategic innovation fund, tax tools and the Canada growth fund, which can take—once it's established and up and running—equity positions in those kinds of areas.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

I met yesterday with energy workers and unionized workers from Edmonton. They are concerned about making sure that they are able to play a big role in this.

If we're talking equity stakes, we know that Joe Biden is always talking about good-paying union jobs and how that's going to be the sustainable economy. If we're taking equity stakes in projects, are we going to insist that we have good labour standards, that we're not creating McJobs and offshoring jobs, and that we're going to create jobs in Canada with well-trained union workers?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

I think you've seen a commitment in the fall economic statement to ensuring that we are creating good-paying jobs when there were provisions associated with that tied to the hydrogen tax credit and the clean technology tax credit. Of course, they were fleshing that out, and we've looked for input from labour and from industry on that. I actually was speaking with Sean Strickland yesterday about exactly that issue, but certainly we recognize the need, if we are going to be using taxpayers' money, to ensure the jobs being created are good-paying jobs.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We're out of time. That was perfect timing.

We have two more questioners.

Minister, you have 10 minutes left with us: one five-minute round with Mr. Patzer and one with Mr. Blois.

With that, we'll jump right into Mr. Patzer's five minutes.

When you're ready, the floor is yours, Mr. Patzer.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you.

Quickly, Minister, again, where in Saskatchewan are you from?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

I'm from Saskatoon.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Okay. Right on. I thought that's what it was, but I just couldn't.... You kind of piqued my curiosity—

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, North Vancouver, BC]

I also lived in Regina.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

There we go.

With your idea of a just transition, do you agree that it's important to help communities survive, along with keeping people employed?