For Immediate Release
6 April, 2022
NL NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre Jim Dinn viewed the Government of Canada’s environmental approval of the Bay du Nord project as a bittersweet announcement. The project brings much needed short relief for workers, but the decision underscores that the provincial government, and the government of Canada have no plan to transition Newfoundland and Labrador and are acting out of desperation. Dinn says the announcement risks putting workers in the same scenario as economies around the world race to remove their dependencies on Oil and Gas.
“First and foremost, we are relieved for the workers employed in the oil and gas sector who again were made to wait with bated breath as governments grappled with this decision,” said Dinn. “We will continue to advocate for a robust just transition plan for the future of these workers. It’s imperative that we recognize this oil isn’t projected to hit the market until after 2030, while today countries around the world are actively turning away from oil and gas in response to climate science.”
The NL NDP points to comments made in the fall of 2021 by Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada governor, that underscored to the financial sector that the transition away from fossil fuels is “the greatest commercial opportunity of our age.” and the International Labour Organization that estimates 24 million green energy jobs will be created this decade via the global energy transition, and more than 43 million new renewable energy jobs by 2050.
On April 5th, 2022 the NL NDP released its initial outline of recommendations for opportunities in a just transition.
The overview can be viewed by visiting https://www.nl.ndp.ca/justtransitionplanforworkers
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