Climate Change: Work to be Done - Emergency Debate

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, we welcome the opportunity to discuss this defining issue of our time. I want to start by addressing a few of the remarks that the Premier made.

First, I agree that we do need all-Party participation on this. I think it's an issue that does transcend politics in many ways, and yet many of the decisions that we make in this House, and many of the directions that we take in this House, are the very directions and the very decisions that are going to be benchmarks along the path that are going to tell us whether we are on the right path or not. Therefore I was somewhat dismayed when the Premier said that we have to champion the environment and we have to champion the economy.

That statement is true. However, I would suggest that that goes one of two ways. Either we balance our economic commitments and our global commitments to the future of our species, or we take a different and more transformative approach to looking at the future of our economy through the lens of the crisis that we find ourselves in.

This is what we talk about when we talk about an ambitious green jobs plan. We cannot continue the status quo of, on the one hand, polluting our environment in the name of economic growth, and on the other hand, saying that we are committed to solving the climate crisis. Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, the two do not work together.

According to a recent report prepared by the Ecology Action Centre, we have the opportunity - and this was co-authored by Gardner Pinfold - to create over 15,000 jobs a year by 2030 if we take an ambitious approach to transforming our economy in order to address the climate crisis.

It isn't an either/or. We can grow our economy, but the way that economic growth happens will be fundamentally different than the way that we understand that now.

An ambitious and robust green jobs plan is an opportunity for innovation, entrepreneurship, youth retention, and immigration - all things that this government talks about all the time, and I know holds in very high value.

It's the responsibility of this government to ensure that we take this transformative action to address climate change while at the same time making a commitment to the workers most impacted by the changing economy so that it is not the workers who will pay the price of that transition.

I want to say that it won't be easy. I think it is natural in a political environment to look for an easy solution to a problem, and by "easy," a solution that ruffles the least amount of feathers.

Whatever solution we come up with, if we are really going to address the climate crisis, will ruffle feathers. We will advantage some industries over other industries. We will fundamentally change the way we think about and hopefully measure our economic progress and output. All of that will come with criticism, will come with challenges, and will come with discomfort, but it is our contention that we have no other choice.

There is a huge green industry emerging across the world. It spans from engineering to technology to education to the arts to agriculture and so much more. We already have green jobs here in Nova Scotia. We have environmental scientists, educators, artists, renewable-energy consultants, urban planners, project coordinators, builders, growers, tourism operators, and food service workers.

We have a green economy, but it's too small and we have a government that so far - hopefully today is the tipping point - hasn't seen these sectors as big opportunities for investment and growth and putting us on track to join those climate champions who are on the track towards carbon neutrality.

We have to nurture these industries, Mr. Speaker; we have to cultivate these leaders. Think of how we could be supporting the environmental leaders we have here in Nova Scotia if we put the resources and energy into making a conscious shift towards a clean economy. Think of the opportunities in the creative economy, the opportunities for young Nova Scotians who want to get involved in sustainable forestry, sustainable fishing, and local food production. Many of these things happen at a micro level, but they have macro implications.

Mr. Speaker, we need to be paying attention to the small, community-led initiatives that are currently the bright lights in this province in these efforts. Unfortunately, it seems today in many areas that we are far from this carbon-neutral future which I would argue we need to achieve. We see hazardous environmental practices all around us in this province. We are the most coal-dependent province in the country - and we're not talking about the coal production. We're talking about the coal that we import to heat our homes and that's a problem.

The reduction that we've made there has allowed us to ambitiously meet some of the targets set forward, but it's not enough, Mr. Speaker; it's not ambitious enough. We see tire burning, we see unregulated clearcutting, we are having conversations and committees about natural resources and economic development, about uranium exploration and fracking, and these are not the conversations we need to be having.

We need to be talking about clean jobs; we need to be talking about battery storage; we need to be talking about carbon neutrality; and we need to be talking about how to transition our workforce into this new reality. When big companies and old school governments are in charge, fighting climate change can become a burden on regular people.

We can do things differently, Mr. Speaker. We can all join together, and we can set ambitious targets and we can work together to achieve them. We endorse the plan put forward by the Ecology Action Centre. Obviously more work needs to be done, but we need robust targets.

I think if we could show leadership in this Chamber about our targets, with the new EGSPA coming in there are lots of opportunities to do that. Things like a plastic bag ban is one step in that direction, but if we can really show transformative change here, I believe we can lead the province in that direction. We're the right size, it's the right moment and Nova Scotia has the opportunity, I believe, to become a leader in this effort. We could become a province that can really be a beacon to other communities around the world for how to make this transition.

I believe we have this opportunity, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad we're having this debate and I look forward to the comments of my colleagues.