Ensure Skills Training and Jobs in Green Economy
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Thank you to the member for bringing this debate to the floor of the House. We feel quite passionately about this topic and about the general notion of a just transition and would concur with many of my colleague's comments. I want to talk for a minute about the notion of green jobs generally.
When we think about green jobs, we often think about them in the mode in which my colleague was speaking, which is absolutely correct. What are the sectors of the economy that will be unlocked by our transition to a cleaner economy? I think it's widely recognized now that that's only one piece of the definition of green jobs.
The other thing that we could think of as green jobs, and which many public intellectuals and scholars do think of as green jobs, are jobs in the caring economy and jobs in the creative economy. These are zero-carbon jobs and they are jobs that have great growth potential and that are imperative to growing our economy.
According to Citizens for Public Justice, green jobs provide goods or services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources. Jobs such as teaching or early childhood education, social work, and nursing have a low carbon footprint compared to jobs in oil and gas, transportation, heavy industry, and agriculture.
Jobs in the care and education sectors also play an important role in serving the most marginalized populations, who are the most vulnerable, we know, to the impacts of climate change. These are jobs that directly address the social determinants of health, which are critical to consider as a part of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
For example, Mr. Speaker, low-income people are most impacted by rising energy costs. Agricultural workers and communities are vulnerable to changing weather patterns, we hear about that on the floor of this House. Seniors and inadequately housed people are most impacted by heat waves. A just transition means ensuring that life is accessible and affordable, and that people have the services they need.
It looks like investments in low-carbon community transportation, affordable and efficient housing, quality long-term care, and support for workers through EI and retraining, which we've just heard about, but it also looks like addressing systemic racism, including environmental racism, and ensuring that Indigenous, Black, and newcomer communities have a voice in shaping the transition and policies that impact them.
Care and educational workers also play a critical role in educating, supporting, and advocating for people through periods of significant change. Women are overrepresented in the care economy. Typical characterizations of green jobs - which we just discussed, which in the new economy would look toward entrepreneurship and technological advancement, and in the discussion around transition mostly focuses on trades and heavy industry - are very gendered. I think it's important to acknowledge that, because a just transition must also include the undervaluing of care work, including unpaid domestic and community labour.
These green caring jobs tend to be underfunded by the government, whereas the heaviest polluting jobs receive generous subsidies. A just transition means inverting this pattern.
This is not just our definition of green jobs. People like Naomi Klein have moved the discourse toward a broader understanding of the jobs that will help us tackle the climate emergency. Economists like Armine Yalnizyan have also talked about the "she-cession" and the caring economy as a way to tackle that and move towards a greener future.
A 2014 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which focused on the health impacts of climate change, stated the following:
"The most effective vulnerability reduction measures for health in the near term are programmes that implement and improve basic public health measures such as provision of clean water and sanitation, secure essential health care including vaccination and child health services, increased capacity for disaster preparedness and response and alleviate poverty . . ."
In a November 2nd open letter - that's today - from the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers to Environment and Climate Change Minister Tim Halman, Executive Director Alec Stratford explained that climate change affects people differently depending on their position in society and calls for an approach that emphasizes climate justice and reducing inequality. He stresses that the green economy is the caring economy.
Mr. Speaker, the Green New Deal touted in the United States included a program for the arts, which not only created jobs and sustained many artists through the Great Depression but also helped inspire a generation of people. Artists can explain the why of a policy in a way that governments and legislation can't. Art can help people embrace change and support people through transitions, including as an element of mental health care. Art is also an important avenue for holding decision-markers accountable and articulating people's lived experiences.
Consider how the CERB helped many creative workers stay afloat through the pandemic and how art created during that pandemic has helped people manage the anxiety and upheaval of the times we are in. As we consider the paradigm shift needed to move our economy away from fossil fuel dependence, arts and culture will be a critical piece of this transition. Given that the climate emergency is already upon us, arts will also play an important role in health and wellness especially among those more vulnerable to its effects. Art is a way for communities to tell their stories and share knowledge. In Nova Scotia, a green jobs plan could look like investment in Mi'kmaw and African Nova Scotian artists and in Mi'kmaw-, Gaelic-, and French-language initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, a just transition also requires worker equity. A green jobs plan in Nova Scotia must of course include jobs in the energy sector and in trades, where women and racialized people are underrepresented. It's important that Nova Scotia ensure equity and access to these jobs, and this includes targeted training programs for people who face systemic barriers. There is already considerable work happening in this area: Women Unlimited, Techsploration, and supportive programs within the Nova Scotia Community College, as we heard of from my colleague.
It's important that we aren't shutting people out of opportunities. For example, the new tax benefit for tradespeople under 30 in Nova Scotia could pose a barrier for people who start careers later due to family responsibilities, and those people are predominantly women.
We need to ensure that the jobs created through a green jobs plan are well-paying, unionized jobs and address inequity across all sectors. Non-profit jobs are also green jobs, and chronic underfunding of the community sector must be addressed.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage this government to really take the time to understand what green jobs mean. When my colleague stood up and spoke to the creative economy as a green jobs plan, she was ridiculed by a member of this government for not understanding the definition of green jobs. I want to be clear that green jobs include the caring economy, and the caring economy is predominantly made up of women.
Any definition of green jobs that includes only the tech and industrial sectors - whether, again, we're thinking of new jobs or we're thinking of a just transition - must also include many of the jobs in our economy that are traditionally underfunded, underpaid, undervalued, and staffed predominantly by women, but which really make up the backbone of our economy and will continue to do so into the future.