Building a cleaner, stronger economy—today and for the future

Canada’s most recent job numbers are absolutely staggering. Our economy has added more than one million jobs across the country since 2015. Unemployment is at the lowest level ever recorded since we started tracking this statistic more than 40 years ago. More than 300,000 children have been lifted out of poverty and thousands of Canadian families are joining the middle class, building better futures through hope and hard work. As we recognize World Environment Day on June 5, it’s worth considering the link between the environment and the economy. For instance, among the most impressive job numbers I’ve seen lately are ones from the clean energy sector. Across the country, 300,000 Canadians are already working to grow renewable power generation, develop cleaner fuels and transportation, install energy-saving technology, and more. Between 2010 and 2017, job creation in the sector has outpaced the rest of the economy by 60 per cent. Those findings are from a new report by Clean Energy Canada, a think tank based at Simon Fraser University, and modelling firm Navius Research. Their work found that, in every province, the jobs that reduce carbon pollution are growing, and growing fast. Since 2010, the sector has grown in value by almost five per cent per year, outpacing Canada’s already solid growth rate of 3.6 per cent. The rise in renewable and alternative energy is one of the main drivers of this sector’s growth, but clean transportation is another runaway success. Canada’s clean energy sector attracts billions of dollars from international businesses. Foreign direct investment in Canada grew by a whopping 60 per cent last year compared to 2017. The landscape is shifting for Canadian companies and workers, and we can’t afford to miss the opportunity that comes from taking action on climate change—an opportunity worth US$26-trillion world-wide between now and 2030, according to the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Many Canadian companies and workers are already tapping into that opportunity, as global demand for cleaner energy and technologies grows, and as the full range of climate-fighting policies kicks in at the federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal level. Meanwhile, more emissions-intensive sectors are seeing the business case for investing in solutions that will allow them to reduce pollution and remain competitive as market conditions and customers’ expectations change. The clean economy is here, and it is growing. Clean energy is just one sector that’s due to expand as Canada and the world ramp up efforts to fight climate change. We have to position ourselves on the front end of this wave of demand for cleaner technology and fuels, to capitalize on the enormous economic opportunity it represents. Yet, despite the boom in clean economic growth, the economic and environmental policies of the Conservatives are straight out of the 1950s. Rather than investing in a cleaner future for our kids and grandkids, they want to take Canada backwards. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney just made pollution free again and says climate change is the flavour of the month. Doug Ford is cutting funding for all kinds of programs people care about, and wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars fighting climate action—instead of fighting climate change. That’s no way to make Canada’s economy stronger in the long run. Our approach is ambitious but sensible. We’ve put in place dozens of measures to reduce pollution while working with Canadians to grow the economy and create more than one million jobs. We’re investing in more than 1,200 public transit projects, phasing out coal, launching a national strategy to reduce plastic pollution, providing rebates and incentives to support electric vehicles, building green infrastructure and improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Let’s be clear—if you don’t have a plan for the environment, you don’t have a plan for the economy. According to global re-insurer Munich Re, last year natural disasters caused over US$160-billion in damage. And when the Bank of Canada released its 2019 Financial System Review last month, it listed climate change as one of six major vulnerabilities facing Canada’s economy. In April, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, warned global financial communities not to ignore climate change. “If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world,” he said, “they will fail to exist.” By fighting climate change and investing in Canadian innovation and clean power, we’re making Canada’s economy cleaner and more competitive. Lion Electric Company in Saint-Jérome, Que., is building electric buses that are in high demand, and recently unveiled electric delivery trucks. Linamar, Canada’s second largest auto-parts manufacturer, just invested $500-million to ensure Canadian-made parts help build the hybrid and electric vehicles that are the future of the automotive industry—with the added benefit of creating up to 1,500 jobs. In my home province of Nova Scotia, Carbon Cure has developed technology that pulls carbon pollution from the atmosphere and uses it to strengthen concrete, which is in use by more than 100 producers across North America. These are exactly the kinds of solutions the world is seeking—and we are proud to be investing in Canadian innovators who are working today to forge the economy of tomorrow. When the status quo involves “once-in-a-century” floods happening every other year, or a wildfire season that burns an area half the size of my home province, or heatwaves that kill dozens of Canadians in Ontario and Quebec, we cannot listen to people who want to stand down in the fight against climate change and argue we should do less. Our government will continue to stand up and fight for a bright future for our kids, with great jobs, a clean economy, and a healthy environment. Liberal MP Sean Fraser, who represents Central Nova, N.S., is the parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment and climate change. The Hill Times