Bill Meant to Aid Workers Transition to Green Jobs to Become Law After Senate Vote

The Senate of Canada building and the Senate chamber are pictured in Ottawa on Feb.18, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

The Liberal government’s Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act, aimed at helping workers develop new skills to find employment amid industry shifts caused by net-zero policies, cleared the Senate and will become law after it receives royal assent.

The bill passed third reading in the upper house on June 18, with 56 senators voting for and 23 against.

Bill C-50 was introduced by Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson in June 2023. It aims to establish a framework to promote “economic growth, the creation of sustainable jobs, and support for workers and communities in Canada in the shift to a net-zero economy.”

Enactment of the legislation will lead to creation of a “Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council,” intended to provide cabinet with “independent advice” related to the transition. The bill will also require the federal government to table a “Sustainable Jobs Action Plan” in Parliament every five years.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the legislation would create “many good middle-class jobs” for energy sector workers, particularly those located in Alberta. He has characterized energy workers as being “essential parts of building a stronger future for everyone across Canada and around the world.”

Bill C-50 was previously known as the “Just Transition” act, adopting a United Nations term referring to an economic transition that allows countries to meet their climate goals while providing workers with good-paying and stable jobs. The name was later changed to the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act.

Pushback

The federal government has faced pushback from several provinces over the legislation. Alberta raised issues in a June 2022 briefing note prepared for Mr. Wilkinson that said the legislation would impact over 2.7 million workers.

The 2022 briefing note said the transition to a low-carbon economy “will have an uneven impact across sectors, occupations and regions and create significant labour market disruptions.” It referred to five sectors of the Canadian economy where a “larger scale transformation” would occur, noting that Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador would be disproportionally impacted.

Mr. Wilkinson later said the numbers in the briefing referred to the overall workforce sizes and not the expected number of job losses, adding that displaced workers would not have difficulty finding new green jobs.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has accused the federal government of aiming to shut down the province’s oil and gas industry, saying her province would ensure the industry would survive for “decades and decades to come.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he shares Ms. Smith’s concerns, calling the legislation part of the prime minister’s “anti-energy and anti-resource agenda.” Mr. Poilievre has repeatedly vowed to open up Canada’s energy and resource sector by repealing Liberal legislation impacting the industries.

Mr. Trudeau, meanwhile, has repeatedly said the Tory leader would rather “watch the country burn” than continue the fight against climate change, in reference to record-breaking wildfires in 2023.

Senators Debate Bill’s Impact

During Senate debates on the legislation on June 17, Senator Hassan Yussuff, a sponsor of the bill, said it aims to “mitigate the negative consequences of net zero to workers and communities” while also preparing them to take advantage of the opportunities the transition will offer.

Mr. Yussuff, with the Independent Senators Group, said that unlike other transitions throughout history, such as the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century or the collapse of the groundfish fishery in Atlantic Canada in the early 1990s, the Canadian government is attempting to be “proactive” with a plan that benefits workers.

“This bill is not about restricting energy development or dictating emissions reduction as some critics may want you to believe. Although this bill is related to net-zero policies that affect emissions, it is not one of them, but instead a consequence of them,” he said.

“It is meant to help communities and workers not only mitigate the negative effects of net zero but capitalize on the opportunities it presents.”

Senator Diane Bellemare called the bill a “comprehensive and commendable” response to the coming transition to a net-zero economy, which is “urgent if we wish to protect the standard of living in our country and reverse the downward trend in our per capita standard of living.”

Ms. Bellemare, part of the Progressive Senate Group, said that in addition to creating jobs for Canadians impacted by the net-zero transition, the bill would help with transitions caused by factors like technological change, demographic change, and international political crises.

While the senator said she would vote in favour of the bill, she expressed concerns that Ottawa  lacks control over the institutional mechanisms needed to effectively implement the transition plan. She also said funding for implementing the plan was insufficient.

Senator David Wells said he does not support the legislation because it would set up a program to “train and retrain oil and gas workers away from existing sustainable and well-paying jobs.” He said Ottawa should not implement measures to take away jobs in an effort to reduce Canada’s 1.5 percent of global carbon emissions.

“No Canadian should wake up to go to work and anxiously wonder whether their job will be there tomorrow, next month, or next year, especially if it is an organized and sustained policy of their government to do so,” he said.

Mr. Wells, who is associated with the Conservative Party, also highlighted a concern recently expressed by executive director John Desjarlais of the Indigenous Resources Network. Mr. Desjarlais told senators of the Energy Committee on June 4 that indigenous oil and gas workers and businesses “often feel vilified” by the government.

Mr. Wells called for Ottawa to cease “misrepresenting a trade and an industry that literally fuels our economy.”

The senator said he would vote against the legislation, as he fears it would lower Canadians’ standards of living, take away opportunities for indigenous oil and gas workers, and lead to other countries raising their emissions to compensate for the loss of Canada’s energy output.

“I’m voting against it because it’s not a good plan for our workers, our communities, our businesses or for our allies. It’s not good for Canada on any level,” Mr. Wells said.