The Alberta Federation of Labour recently released a report noting that there are 200,000 jobs and billions of dollars at stake in transitioning and diversifying the economy but questioned the province’s commitment to doing so.
In response to this report, both the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal reached out to Chief Economist Charles St-Arnaud for comment on the report and how it relates to recent initiatives taking place in the United States focused on transitioning to clean energy.
He noted that timing is of the essence for these types of shifts.
“The problem I find is, are we playing our card well enough, early enough?” he said. “The question with the whole energy transition, and when you have big, structural economic change, is that either you are an early adopter and you decide how you want to do it, or you’re a late adopter and then you get forced into taking the crumbs of what’s left.”
He went on further to note that with oil and gas demand set to peak in 2030, diversification of the sector and our economy is important now to better soften the blow of the fall a decade from now.
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