Decarbonizing Canada’s Economy – How the Transition will Affect Workers
At the beginning of 2023, the World Economic Forum reported that 12.7 million people now work in the global renewable energy sector. As Canada undertakes its own green transition, many new jobs may spring up here as well. Other jobs will be lost in the fossil fuel and other sectors. However, the nature and scope of the transition is far from guaranteed, and we can’t yet say with certainty that more jobs will be gained during the process than lost.
It’s clear that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in order to fight climate change, but there is still much to be done to ensure that the transition doesn’t leave some workers behind. On December 13th, Climate Legacy is hosting our last webinar of 2023 – this one examining the impact of a green transition for workers. We’re excited to welcome two fantastic speakers – Jim Stanford and Ken Delaney, with Armine Yalnizyan moderating this important conversation. We hope to see you there!
When: December 13th, 2pm ET
Where: Virtual
Cost: Free/Donation
Our Panelists and Moderator:
Armine Yalnizyan (Moderator) is a leading voice on Canada’s economic scene. She is the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers and writes a bi-weekly business column for the Toronto Star. She served as a senior economic policy advisor to the federal Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada in 2018 and 2019, and has been a member of a high-level task group on women in the economy convened by the federal Ministers of Finance and Middle Class Prosperity during the pandemic. Armine helped shape and advance the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Inequality Project from 2006 to 2016, provided weekly business commentary for CBC from 2011 to 2018, and served as Vice President and President of the Canadian Association for Business Economics from 2013-2019.
Ken Delaney (Panelist) is a public policy, labour relations, labour market, corporate finance, and not-for-profit management consultant with a lot of experience working for unions. His diverse work history includes being the Managing Director and Partner in Prism Economics, serving as the Executive Director of the Canadian Skills and Employment Coalition (CSTEC), holding senior positions with the Steelworkers Union, creating and managing a private equity fund that took equity positions in medium sized Ontario businesses, advising the Alberta Government on its approach to support workers and communities impacted by the retirement of coal fired power plants, and providing advisory services to stakeholders in the steel and automotive sectors. Ken is currently leading a comprehensive examination of the automotive production workforce, including assembly, parts and other primary suppliers. This initiative is called FOCAL and is a partnership between Prism Economics, the Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition and the Automotive Policy Research Centre.
Jim Stanford (Panelist) is Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work, a labour economics think tank with offices in Vancouver, B.C., and Canberra, Australia. Jim is one of Canada’s best-known economists. He served for over 20 years as Economist and Director of Policy with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector trade union (formerly the Canadian Auto Workers). He is quoted frequently in the print and broadcast media, and contributes regular commentaries to the Toronto Star, Global National news, and CKNW Radio. He is also the Harold Innis Industry Professor in Economics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney. Jim is the author of Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism (second edition published by Pluto Books in 2015), which has been published in six languages. Stanford has written, edited or co-edited six other books, and dozens of articles and reports in both peer-reviewed and popular outlets.