QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Natural Resources
Just Transition
December 14, 2022
Thank you, minister, for being here today. I want to thank you again for all the good work that’s happening across the country, especially on the file you’re responsible for.
As you may know, I spend a great deal of my time advocating on behalf of working people across this country. In that context, I was a co-chair of the task force to phase out coal-fired generation in our country. Workers embraced the 10 recommendations that were made as part of our task force report. I know that the government has certainly been consulting workers in regard to implementing Just Transition legislation.
Can you assure our colleagues here in the Senate that sometime in the near future — which means spring of next year — we could see your government acting on the Just Transition program? Would that also include all of the elements recommended by our Just Transition Task Force for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities?
Thank you for the question. Yes, the Just Transition, sometimes referred to these days as a plan for sustainable jobs, is something that we have been working on very actively — certainly not just myself, but also Minister O’Regan, Minister Qualtrough and, of course, our counterparts in the New Democratic Party who are part of the Supply and Confidence Agreement.
That is something that we intend to deliver early in the new year with respect to introduction of legislation, but also the release of a draft action plan outlining a number of the elements — not only on what we’ve done, but where we’re going. That will include a whole range of things that came out of the consultations that we held over the past couple of years, very much including the labour movement.
It certainly is not just about skills training and adjustment. It’s also about building an economy that will create good jobs for Canadians as we move forward.
We certainly are reflecting on the coal-related work that was done previously. I know you were very actively involved in that, senator. Some of those have already been acted on, but certainly we are looking at the remainder of those recommendations as we go forward with the broader plan, which is meant to address not just coal workers but others as well. As you know, even the funding that was put into place for coal workers expires at the end of 2023.
There is obviously time between then and when some of these plants will shut down, so there’s a broader conversation that needs to happen.
