Our Executive Director, Lois Corbett, told media outlets that the Just Transition Task Force will have coal workers’ backs, and that the transition away from coal-fired electricity will create more job opportunities for workers and communities in the fast-growing renewable energy sector.
Corbett was in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 25 as Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna announced the members of the federal government’s Just Transition Task Force, co-chaired by Corbett and Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff.
“I want to assure the community in Belledune that this Task Force has your back,” Corbett said during the press conference at Ottawa’s Natural History Museum. “And when we work together, we can bring new investments in the new economy and plan a thoughtful, careful process forward for the transition away from coal-fired electricity.”
The announcement was covered by the National Observer, CBC Politics, CBC Information Morning Fredericton, and the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. You can watch the news conference on our Facebook Page.
“I think a lot of people nowadays, especially in New Brunswick, realize that climate change is here and now — we’ve lived through ice storms and other extreme weather events — and that we all have to rise to the challenge of working to reduce our carbon pollution,” Corbett told host Terry Seguin on CBC Information Morning Fredericton on Thursday, April 26.
“If we can rebuild our electricity system without coal but with solar power and wind power and renewable forms of electricity, we’ll be better off and we’ll need thousands and thousands of workers to help us make that transition. There will be more jobs in the clean tech economy than we currently have in the coal-fired economy.”
Recommended links:
- Read our press release, Lois Corbett appointed co-chair of federal government’s Just Transition Task Force for coal phase out
- Learn more about the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities
- Find a list of members appointed to the task force
- Read the press release from the Canadian Labour Congress
- Learn more about Canada’s commitment to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030