Ottawa unveils sustainable jobs plan for energy sector, says it thinks it can get Alberta to buy in | CBC News

Federal ministers said they’re optimistic about getting a skeptical Alberta government to work with them on a sustainable jobs plan as they put forward a bill Thursday to help create work in clean energy.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson tabled Bill C-50, the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act, in the House of Commons. The legislation implements some of the measures the federal government outlined in the interim sustainable jobs plan it released in February.

The bill would create a Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council to advise the government on clean energy jobs, require that Ottawa come up with a sustainable jobs plan every five years, and establish a Sustainable Jobs Secretariat, a new body which would oversee the government’s work on building a clean energy sector.

At a news conference Thursday, Wilkinson said the proposed law would help Canada seize opportunities in areas like renewable energy, critical minerals, biofuels and hydrogen power.

“Canada is extraordinarily well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that will come through the transition to a low-carbon future … We are advancing a plan for the future. We are not simply hoping for the best,” Wilkinson told a news conference.

“It is complex, and so it should be. It requires that we work together.”

But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, whose United Conservative Party government was re-elected last month, has claimed the government’s sustainable jobs plan threatens Alberta energy workers. 

Wilkinson said he thinks he can get Smith, and energy workers across Canada, to back the government’s plans.

“At the end of the day, it is going to be those that are producing at very low carbon that are going to be winning in the context of the transition,” he said.

“I think that there are opportunities to work constructively and collaboratively with Premier Smith.”

Wilkinson said he’ll meet with Smith on Monday in Calgary to talk about how the federal government and Alberta can work together on the file.

Randy Boissonnault, an Alberta Liberal MP, said the government’s plan to get to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 won’t work without the support of Alberta workers — support he said the government could win through creating opportunities in sustainable employment.

“I think we can follow the money and we see where the investments are going,” Boissonnault said.

“We’re going to keep working to … make sure that workers in Alberta and across the country know that there’s a clear path to a prosperous future.”

Wilkinson said the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act is partly modelled on the government’s Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act because its focus is on ensuring current and future governments are held to account for actions to combat climate change.

The Liberal government has not said how many jobs it expects to create through its plan. It has pointed to a report from the Royal Bank of Canada that says a net-zero economy could create up to 400,000 new jobs in Canada by the end of the decade.

The government has also said that, while there’s concern about the sustainable jobs plan eliminating non-renewable energy jobs, it expects there will be a shortage of workers to fill newly created jobs in renewable energy.