With Canada’s 150th birthday fast approaching, the Canadian Labour Congress is joining with business, faith, community and environmental groups to articulate a vision for a “Clean Growth Century” for our country.
In an op-ed published today in La Presse and Policy Options, the coalition urged policymakers to pursue a better approach to climate change, including investments in clean electricity, public transit and building retrofits; committing to carbon pricing; and ensuring a just transition for workers, families and communities where jobs and livelihoods are at stake. This kind of transition would include an industrial strategy to support and retrain displaced workers into gainful employment in clean growth industries.
“Canada needs to dramatically accelerate the shift to a green economy, and we know it can be done in a way that is economically and socially responsible, without leaving behind workers and their communities,” said Canadian Labour Congress President, Hassan Yussuff.
More than 50 organizations have signed onto the Clean Growth Century statement, including several energy producers, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, the Business Council of Canada, Équiterre, Greenpeace Canada, the Quebec Employers Council, SHARE Canada, and VanCity.
“The changes we need to see require participation from all sectors. Unions coming together with so many other diverse groups sets the stage for a truly ground-breaking new conversation on climate change,” Yussuff added.
To read the Clean Growth Century op-ed, click here.
