QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Labour
Just Transition
February 9, 2023
Welcome, Minister O’Regan. Great to see you again.
Minister O’Regan, in your mandate letter, which we heard a little bit about, you were asked to work with other ministers on legislation and action to achieve a just transition, ensuring support for the future and livelihood of workers and their communities in the transition to a low-carbon economy. The Office of the Auditor General released a report last April on that transition, which found that federal departments had not adequately designed programs and benefits to support coal workers and their communities while phasing out coal-fired electricity.
Minister, could you tell us how the government is responding to that report and the recommendations from the Auditor General? Also, what lessons might we learn for other sectors?
As you well know, Senator Yussuff was very much on top of that file in terms of coal transition.
There is a significant, and fundamental, difference in that coal is being phased out altogether. It is not only being phased out in Canada, but we want it phased out around the world — you cannot just do that, though, for jurisdictions that do not have an alternative. In Canada, in the meantime, we have alternatives — and we have for some time — whether those are fossil fuels, hydroelectricity or nuclear power. Therein lies a big difference.
This message gets so muddied and politicized. I learned during my tenure as Minister of Natural Resources that the most important thing you can do is singularly focus on one thing — and that is lowering emissions. Everything else is noise; everything else can become a distraction.
It is on two fronts: We have to lower emissions for its own sake, but we also have to lower emissions because, competitively, it will place our product and our fossil fuels in a far better place in the world, as the world shops around now — not only for cheap sources, but also for sources at lower emissions.
