Here’s what Bill C-50 really means for N.L.’s energy industry — and it’s not pretty: Senator Wells
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When most people think of the oil and gas industry in Canada, they think of the West, of Alberta and the oil sands in particular.
Rarely, if at all, do those living outside Newfoundland and Labrador think of this province as an energy powerhouse.
As a senator representing this province and as a former deputy CEO and board member of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, I would like to disabuse them of that notion — and give everyone a head’s-up on what the Liberal government has in store for us. If you have a weak stomach, you should probably stop here.
The oil and gas industry in Newfoundland and Labrador dates back more than 50 years and has so far produced more than two billion barrels of oil. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The Hibernia Southern Extension is expected to produce 170 million barrels of recoverable resources and the recent Bay du Nord deepwater discovery is estimated to have a reserve of more than 500 million barrels.
Petroleum is a significant income producer for our province, our families and, by extension, our communities. The industry employs approximately 20,000 people. We are the largest producer of crude oil in eastern Canada and the third largest producing province in the country behind only Alberta and Saskatchewan. Petroleum was our largest export in 2023. In January 2024 alone, it amounted to almost half a billion dollars in exports.
Equally significant is that the carbon footprint from Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil and gas is among the lowest in the world. You don’t have to remove the oil from the sand. We don’t need tanker trucks, rail or pipelines to get it to market. To complete the trifecta, the production cost is among the lowest in the world.
So, what could go wrong? Well, in general, the Liberal government’s environmentally activist agenda and, in particular, Bill C-50, the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act. What this act is designed to do, at least according to the government, is to help prepare and train those who are presently working in our traditional energy industries for jobs in the “new sustainable economy.”
What it really will do is phase out Canada’s petroleum industry and establish retraining programs for those who already have sustainable jobs in the petroleum sector. For Newfoundland and Labrador, it evokes memories of the Northern Cod Adjustment and Recovery Program — known as NCARP — and the Atlantic Groundfish Strategy — known as TAGS — of the 1990s, when the groundfish sector collapsed because of mismanagement and ecological factors.
Only this time, the collapse of a healthy, well-regulated industry is official Liberal government policy and is being led by Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister in the Trudeau government, Seamus O’Regan. He introduced it when he was Trudeau’s natural resources minister and is delivering it now as Trudeau’s labour minister.
Talk of central government retraining is a sensitive topic for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The shutdown in the 1990s of the once-prolific groundfish industry in this province put thousands of people — both harvesters and plant workers — out of work. It also severely diminished the companies and workers that supplied that once-thriving industry. Jobs didn’t exist and the “training” was for skills that would never be applied in rural areas of our province.
Well, it is déjà vu all over again. The Trudeau government’s own briefing note to Minister O’Regan on Bill C-50 admits our province will be “disproportionately affected by the transition to a low carbon economy”, but it also says — and I quote from the ministerial briefing note — that “some green jobs will not require workers with green skills, like janitor or driver working for a solar energy company.” Awesome.
As a senator representing Newfoundland and Labrador, and as the Opposition critic of Bill C-50 in the Senate, I will do everything I can to fight this legislation being advanced by Seamus O’Regan — the cabinet minister that represents us.
It is a bill that directly attacks our province’s environmentally clean, low-cost and profitable industry — one that employs thousands of already well-trained, professional and dedicated Newfoundlanders and Labradorians here at home.
Senator David M. Wells represents Newfoundland and Labrador in the Senate. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources and the former deputy CEO and board member of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board.
This article was published in the St. John’s Telegram on May 29, 2024.
When most people think of the oil and gas industry in Canada, they think of the West, of Alberta and the oil sands in particular.
Rarely, if at all, do those living outside Newfoundland and Labrador think of this province as an energy powerhouse.
As a senator representing this province and as a former deputy CEO and board member of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, I would like to disabuse them of that notion — and give everyone a head’s-up on what the Liberal government has in store for us. If you have a weak stomach, you should probably stop here.
The oil and gas industry in Newfoundland and Labrador dates back more than 50 years and has so far produced more than two billion barrels of oil. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The Hibernia Southern Extension is expected to produce 170 million barrels of recoverable resources and the recent Bay du Nord deepwater discovery is estimated to have a reserve of more than 500 million barrels.
Petroleum is a significant income producer for our province, our families and, by extension, our communities. The industry employs approximately 20,000 people. We are the largest producer of crude oil in eastern Canada and the third largest producing province in the country behind only Alberta and Saskatchewan. Petroleum was our largest export in 2023. In January 2024 alone, it amounted to almost half a billion dollars in exports.
Equally significant is that the carbon footprint from Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore oil and gas is among the lowest in the world. You don’t have to remove the oil from the sand. We don’t need tanker trucks, rail or pipelines to get it to market. To complete the trifecta, the production cost is among the lowest in the world.
So, what could go wrong? Well, in general, the Liberal government’s environmentally activist agenda and, in particular, Bill C-50, the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act. What this act is designed to do, at least according to the government, is to help prepare and train those who are presently working in our traditional energy industries for jobs in the “new sustainable economy.”
What it really will do is phase out Canada’s petroleum industry and establish retraining programs for those who already have sustainable jobs in the petroleum sector. For Newfoundland and Labrador, it evokes memories of the Northern Cod Adjustment and Recovery Program — known as NCARP — and the Atlantic Groundfish Strategy — known as TAGS — of the 1990s, when the groundfish sector collapsed because of mismanagement and ecological factors.
Only this time, the collapse of a healthy, well-regulated industry is official Liberal government policy and is being led by Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister in the Trudeau government, Seamus O’Regan. He introduced it when he was Trudeau’s natural resources minister and is delivering it now as Trudeau’s labour minister.
Talk of central government retraining is a sensitive topic for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The shutdown in the 1990s of the once-prolific groundfish industry in this province put thousands of people — both harvesters and plant workers — out of work. It also severely diminished the companies and workers that supplied that once-thriving industry. Jobs didn’t exist and the “training” was for skills that would never be applied in rural areas of our province.
Well, it is déjà vu all over again. The Trudeau government’s own briefing note to Minister O’Regan on Bill C-50 admits our province will be “disproportionately affected by the transition to a low carbon economy”, but it also says — and I quote from the ministerial briefing note — that “some green jobs will not require workers with green skills, like janitor or driver working for a solar energy company.” Awesome.
As a senator representing Newfoundland and Labrador, and as the Opposition critic of Bill C-50 in the Senate, I will do everything I can to fight this legislation being advanced by Seamus O’Regan — the cabinet minister that represents us.
It is a bill that directly attacks our province’s environmentally clean, low-cost and profitable industry — one that employs thousands of already well-trained, professional and dedicated Newfoundlanders and Labradorians here at home.
Senator David M. Wells represents Newfoundland and Labrador in the Senate. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources and the former deputy CEO and board member of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board.
This article was published in the St. John’s Telegram on May 29, 2024.