just transition

Coal workers and their communities need to be included in the government's coal phase-out discussions, say labour leaders, in order to build trust around environmental initiatives and craft policy that is better connected to real anxieties and concerns.

Looming over the discussions, however, was another major issue — one that Trudeau wouldn’t raise until the very end of his remarks. Most climate policy experts say a low-carbon future that addresses climate change will necessarily mean fewer jobs in fossil fuels, and require what labour leaders describe as a "just transition" for displaced workers to find jobs in emerging industries.

Extra programs to support and retrain workers from waning fossil fuel industries should be put in place now, before too many pink slips start to fly, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

To say that Hassan Yussuff was frustrated Wednesday would be putting it politely. “There are other adjectives I will not use," the president of the Canadian Labour Congress told National Observer after hearing the government still has no "just transition" policies lined up for fossil fuel workers who will lose their jobs.