Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan yesterday said Canada needs more oil and gas workers, not fewer, and cursed cabinet’s “just transition” climate retraining program. “I can’t stand the phrase ‘just transition,’” said O’Regan..“I’ve said this for years,” O’Regan said in Senate Question Period. “‘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.’”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, cabinet in a 2015 commitment under the Paris Agreement on climate change promised a program to retrain thousands of workers facing layoffs in emissions-producing industries. “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.”.“Out my way Exxon Mobile says there is no harsher environment in the world in which to extract oil than the north Atlantic of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said O’Regan. “What we have managed to do – and I acknowledge this, Senators – what we have managed to do as our government is sometimes frequently isolate the very people we need to lower emissions and build up renewables, which is the workers of this industry.”.“I need more workers in the oil and gas industry, not less,” said O’Regan. “We need more.”.“Will you listen to the oil and gas producing provinces and put this ridiculous notion of ‘just transition’ where it belongs, in the garbage bin?” asked Senator Donald Plett (Man.), Opposition Leader in the Senate. “Good question,” replied O’Regan..“I couldn’t be clearer,” said O’Regan. “I am a Member of Parliament from an oil and gas producing province.”.The labour minister did not comment directly on a 2022 Department of Natural Resources memo Key Messages On Just Transition that warned 2.7 million Canadians work in sectors that face “significant labour market disruptions.” The most affected industries included farming, drilling, refining, mining, milling and trucking. “How many jobs will be lost in the oil and gas sector as a result of the Government of Canada’s climate change actions?” asked the memo. “The answer to this question depends.”.“Will workers need to focus on reskilling or upskilling to adapt to a new labour market following the transition to a low carbon economy?” asked the memo. “Some green jobs will not require workers with green skills to perform their jobs, i.e. janitor or driver working for a solar energy company.”
