Madam Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this debate on the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. I should note that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Jonquière.
I will take a completely different angle from this morning's discussion, but I will stick to the report. I will be examining it from the labour point of view, which is not surprising since I was once a union president. I will be talking about Quebec, naturally. Again, I do not think that will come as a surprise to anyone.
Let us talk about employment. When the committee report discusses switching from one technology to another, it talks about a just transition. This phrase is recognized the world over, except here in Canada. The legislation that was passed in the spring is called the “Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act”. However, the internationally recognized phrase is “just transition”, so that is what we should really be focusing on. What is a just transition? It is a concept rooted in social justice, the idea being that the transition needs to be just to ensure that workers affected by the necessary shift away from oil and gas will not have to bear the full brunt of this transition. They must receive all the help they need to train for new jobs in other sectors.
The report has this to say:
Information provided by NRCan indicated that there were approximately 210,000 direct jobs in the clean tech sector in Canada in 2020, and that these jobs paid an average of $80,834, which was higher than the Canadian economy-wide average annual salary of $68,678...
This shows that the sustainable employment sector is not insignificant.
...however, women in the clean tech sector in 2020 earned 82% of what men earned.
There is still work to be done.
By comparison, there were 178,500 jobs in the oil and gas sector in that year.... In order for Canadian workers to take full advantage of clean technology opportunities, and to ensure there are enough skilled workers available to implement clean technologies, witnesses from a variety of sectors emphasized the need for technical training and applied research through colleges and polytechnics.
For example, Daniel Breton, one of the witnesses we heard from in committee, reminded us that:
We need to make that transition for workers who work in industries in decline to come and work in the electric mobility sector....
With respect to that topic in particular, the conclusion of the report states:
[Particular emphasis should be placed on the] need for support in the later phases of technology development: demonstration, early adoption, and commercialization. Better support during these later phases should help promising innovations bridge the gap between research and development and market success. It was made clear that Canadian clean tech growth stands to benefit the economy and workers through the creation of well-paying skilled jobs, including some to which workers in declining industries could transition.
They need support. Let us talk about our neighbour to the south. When asked about the Trump administration's intentions with regard to developing the clean technology sector, executives from Quebec's renewable energy sector stated that the economic spinoffs that the clean energy sector generates for the U.S. economy are far too significant for Trump to risk jeopardizing them. According to the head of Boralex, the Trump administration would be at risk of losing factories, jobs, and tax and export revenues if it scraps the Inflation Reduction Act. As a result, Trump's election is unlikely to impede the growth of the clean energy sector, so we should not let ourselves get too carried away.
However, I must emphasize that the people who are affected must also have a say in decisions that will have a bearing on their future. In Quebec, social licence is key, and the Alliance de l'énergie de l'Est is an example of this. Two of the alliance's new projects, totalling nearly 500 megawatts, were approved by Hydro-Québec in late January. The alliance represents 209 communities from the Montmagny RCM to the Magdalen Islands. It emphasizes social licence and maximizing economic spinoffs. As for Quebec jobs, the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail, a board of labour market partners that was created over 20 years ago, prioritizes balance and worker participation. There are committees in every region that help identify needs. There are committees where employers, worker representatives and organizations in this field collaborate with the Quebec departments of labour and education. Is this not a fine example?
We need skilled workers, yes, but training them is Quebec's role. This brings me to recommendation 16: “That the Government of Canada collaborate with provinces and territories to invest more in skills training, including skills upgrading and requalification programs”. We have certain reservations about this recommendation, namely whether it can be implemented while respecting jurisdictional boundaries and the cutting-edge initiatives Quebec has already rolled out.
Let us consider a non-Quebec example. One tangible risk for investment in the clean energy sector is Alberta's moratorium on renewable energy. From Canada's standpoint, Alberta's seven-month moratorium on renewable energy projects and the dozens of projects that have been cancelled as a result have discouraged investors in this sector. While Alberta is hitting the brakes on clean energy development, other provinces are forging ahead and developing their renewable energy production capabilities. In Quebec, clean technology development is already well under way. To help Quebec decarbonize, Hydro‑Québec is counting on renewable energy sources to deliver more energy capacity. It plans to add 10,000 megawatts of new wind capacity to its grid by 2035.
As for coordination among different levels of government and recommendation 8, which reads, “That the Government of Canada coordinate energy retrofit programs with provincial programs to facilitate access to Canadians”, Quebec introduced a number of energy efficiency programs years ago, including EcoPerformance, Roulez vert, Technoclimat and Éconologis. In terms of collaboration, there is no problem. Quebec has proven that it is open to coordinating its provincial programs with federal ones, such as the Quebec government's Rénoclimat program and Ottawa's Canada Greener Homes Loan program, both of which deal with energy efficiency retrofits.
In conclusion, in the fight against climate change, we must not put all of our eggs in one basket. Technology is not a magic pill that will solve all our problems. It is just one of several tools that we must use to protect our health and the health of the environment.
