But to be honest, from the perspective of Alberta workers, an emissions cap is not the biggest issue facing our province's oil and gas sector, not even close. The biggest issue is the unfolding global energy transition itself.
Contrary to the spin coming from certain politicians and pundits, the energy transition is real, it's happening whether we like it or not, and it is not being driven by policies from Canadian governments. Instead, it's a global phenomenon that is largely outside of our control. We could ignore or deny it, and end up with regional economies that look like the American Midwest rust belt after ill-advised trade deals sent hundreds of thousands of good manufacturing jobs overseas, or we could acknowledge that the transition is real and put plans in place to support affected workers through it and pivot towards the economic opportunities that the transition creates.
As the leader of Alberta's largest worker advocacy group, I firmly believe that adaptation and planning are better than denial and delay. Having said that, I don't want to suggest that navigating the energy transition will be easy. There are 140,000 Alberta workers directly employed in oil and gas, and another 50,000 workers work in oil sands related construction. The value that these workers create represents more than 25% of our provincial GDP. It also sustains countless Alberta families and communities.
However, change is coming and it's coming fast. Oil and gas employment in Alberta is already down by 42,000 jobs from its peak in 2013. Despite record prices and record profits over the past six months, employment in the sector is not increasing. This is the future. If you really want to help Alberta workers, I urge you to stop trying to score political points and instead start talking about an ambitious industrial policy for the provinces affected by the energy transition on the scale of the mobilization for WWII, the postwar Marshall plan or the American moonshot in the 1960s. If that's not this government's priority, then it will be hard for me to get behind any of your plans, including the proposal for an emissions cap.
Thank you.