Liberal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said Canada needs thousands of additional oil and gas workers, according to a report to Parliament.. Seamus O’ReganCourtesy CBC .The government estimates an increase of 13% in the oil and gas workforce is needed..“The most recent projections were developed in 2022 and cover the period from 2022 to 2031,” O’Regan wrote in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons..“The Canada Occupational Projection System projects a total of 14,000 job openings in the oil and gas extraction industry excluding support activities.”.“These represent approximately 13% of the sector’s employment levels in 2021,” said the Inquiry..The figures were requested by Conservative MP Martin Shields (Bow River, AB), who asked “How many more workers does the government estimate are needed in the oil and gas industry?”.The Inquiry followed remarks by O’Regan in Senate Question Period on February 9..“I need more workers in the oil and gas industry, not less,” said O’Regan..“We need more.”.The 2015 Paris Agreement commitment on climate change promised to retrain thousands of energy workers facing layoffs under a “just transition” program..“I can’t stand the phrase ‘just transition,’” O’Regan told the Senate..“I’ve said this for years,” said O’Regan..“‘Just transition’ is a word that workers hate and my constituents don’t like and so I don’t like it either. We tried anyway within the bureaucracy and amongst ourselves to say the words ‘sustainable jobs.’”.“This is not about phasing out the oil and gas industry,” said O’Regan..“The oil and gas industry is going to be with us for quite some time and I would argue proudly so.”.“I am proud of what we have done in this country and what workers have accomplished in this country,” said O’Regan..“You know, some 30, 40 years ago, we asked workers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to figure out how to get oil out of sand and by God, they did it. We are the fourth biggest producers of oil and gas in the world. That is a remarkable accomplishment.”.Climate programs threaten some 170,000 jobs in oil and gas, according to an April 26, 2022, report by the Environment Commissioner Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Minister O’Regan in testimony on June 2, 2022, at the Commons Natural Resources committee repeated his complaint that Canada needed more oil and gas workers, not less..“Honestly, we have to keep people in the industry,” said O’Regan..“We don’t have enough workers in just about any industry in this country, but most particularly and poignantly, we don’t have enough workers in the energy industry and in the oil and gas industry.”
