Trudeau Says Canada Is Poised to be ‘Reliable Supplier of Clean Energy’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with U.S. President Joe Biden meets with in Mexico City on Jan. 10, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is poised to be a “reliable” source of clean energy and technology for the world, emphasizing that the industry will also create a number of middle-class jobs within the country.

“One thing is certain: Canada is ready to be the reliable supplier of clean energy and technology a net-zero world will need, and we'll do it with our North American partners, both businesses and governments,” Trudeau said while delivering an address on Jan. 11 in Mexico City.

“The economy of the future will also be shaped by new forefronts in technology and innovation,” he added.

The prime minister is wrapping up his trip to Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit, where he met with U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss trade agreements, along with “diversity and inclusion” issues and climate change.

Members of Trudeau’s cabinet who accompanied him on the trip included Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, and International Trade Minister Mary Ng.

“We need to grow our middle class so we can have a more resilient and stable economy,” Trudeau said in his address. “This isn’t just good for people. It’s good for businesses.”

The federal government’s current climate plan outlines a number of emissions reduction targets, which all represent steps toward a planned net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy by 2050.

In the initial phase, Ottawa plans to reduce nationwide GHG emissions by at least 40 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

“With less than a decade left to achieve Canada’s 2030 target, and with countries around the world moving to a cleaner economy to attract investment and secure jobs for their citizens, more action is required,” reads “Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.”

Energy Sector

The federal government will also be looking to move forward with its “just transition” legislation this year, which is intended to help workers in Canada’s oil and gas sector move into green energy jobs.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has said he is not concerned that the legislation will decrease employment in the energy sector.

“I do not believe that the challenge we are going to face is that there are workers who are displaced that will not find other good-paying jobs,” Wilkinson told CBC News in early January. “I am actually quite worried that there are so many opportunities … we will not have enough workers to fill the jobs.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith takes exception to the proposed legislation, saying the province “will not be shutting down” its oil and natural gas industry in order to transition workers into green energy jobs.

“We are not going to be transitioning our workers, who are in good, high-paying, meaningful, important jobs into installing solar panels,” she said on Jan. 7.

A recent report found that Ontario’s plans to decarbonize its energy sector by 2050, which follows the federal government’s climate plan, will cost about $400 billion and will require the size of Ontario’s electricity system to be doubled.

“In all, the bulk system expansion needed to enable decarbonization in this scenario would require an investment in the range of $375 to $425 billion,” said the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator in a report on Dec. 16.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.