Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told an audience in Davos that “all” of Canada’s manufacturing must be retooled to make way for the energy transition.
“I think that right now we’re living through a moment which is comparable only to the industrial revolution itself, in terms of the energy transition and the way we need to retool all of our manufacturing,” said Ms. Freeland on Jan. 18 while attending the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting that takes place in Davos, Switzerland.
“That is huge,” she added, without expanding further.
The Liberal government seeks to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and has implemented laws and regulations to achieve that goal. It tabled its Sustainable Jobs Act (
Bill C-50) in June 2023 to help redirect lost jobs in the oil and gas sector into the low-carbon economy. The bill is currently at
committee stage in the House of Commons.
Ms. Freeland spoke on a
panel titled “No Recovery without Trade and Investment,” alongside WEF President Børge Brende, World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, among others.
Participants spoke of the benefits of trade as a growth engine after the turmoil caused by COVID-19 and amid current geopolitical tensions. Ms. Freeland last year participated in two
sessions on Ukraine, including one that was
undisclosed.
The Canadian deputy prime minister and finance minister, who sits on the
WEF board of trustees, has been holding undisclosed meetings with other attendees at the meeting this year. Her office, her Finance Department, and the Privy Council Office have not responded to inquiries seeking further details on the matter.
Ms. Freeland recounted to the panel an interaction the day prior with an unnamed major business player who warned her about the potential impacts of the economic transition.
“I spoke yesterday to a very significant international business leader who was also a big investor in Canada,” she said, adding that he told her “all the countries in the world need to be very careful that decarbonization does not mean de-industrialization.”
Ms. Freeland said she thought this was an “extremely smart comment.”
Canada is “absolutely determined” that decarbonization will create more jobs, growth, and manufacturing, she added.
“We recognize government needs to play a role to make that happen,” said the minister, noting her government has earmarked around $120 billion for policies pursuing the industrial transformation.
Many of the Liberal government’s policies directly impact oil-producing provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, and both have steadily
pushed back on related legislation.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has said he would not implement Bill C-50 and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would not cooperate to phase out her province’s oil and gas industry and workforce.
Along with pursuing the green industrial transformation, the Liberal government is also working to fulfill the WEF’s objective of a
“Fourth Industrial Revolution” through the
Agile Nations network. The plan is to streamline regulations across countries to help
new technologies such as artificial intelligence, gene editing, the internet of things, and autonomous vehicles proliferate.
