Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, October 26, 2022 -

The federal government announced in November 2016 that it would be amending its coal‑fired electricity regulations to accelerate the phase‑out of traditional coal‑fired electricity in Canada by 2030. This is a key component of the federal government’s strategy to transition to a low-carbon economy and will primarily affect workers and communities in four provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The federal government’s intended goal with this transition is for job losses in affected communities to be offset with new employment opportunities in low-carbon industries. It is driven by the federal government’s view that Canadians share the costs of transitioning to a low-carbon economy since it would be unjust for workers and communities in affected sectors to shoulder the full economic costs alone.

A 2022 audit by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development reported that although the government identified Natural Resources Canada as the lead department to deliver just‑transition legislation in 2019, the department took little action until 2021. It did not establish a governance structure that would set out the related federal roles and accountabilities, and it did not have an implementation plan to address an economic and employment transition that involves a variety of workers, geographies, federal economic development agencies and other stakeholders.

In the absence of an implementation plan for this transition to a low‑carbon economy, Employment and Social Development Canada, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Prairies Economic Development Canada relied on existing programs that were not designed to support workers and affected communities by the accelerated phase‑out of coal‑fired electricity.

Federal departments and agencies reviewed by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development did not establish a framework to measure, monitor, and report on actions to support a transition for Canadians. Without a proper transition plan in place, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts heard there are socioeconomic risks for affected communities that are comparable to what occurred with the devastating collapse of the northern cod fishery in Atlantic Canada in the 1990s.

A report by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts, presented today by Committee Chairman John Williamson, makes six recommendations to ensure that the Commissioner’s recommendations are adequately addressed and that the two departments and the two regional development agencies provide evidence of this to the Committee through progress reports.