The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, MP Edmonton Centre – September 20th, 2023
In September, our team met with The Honourable Minster Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages. This roundtable was held to discuss the critical role that the energy services, supply, and manufacturing sector plays in the larger Canadian economy and how the industry is a key stakeholder in many of the government’s current priorities. These priorities include emissions reduction efforts, shoring up the country’s workforce to meet the needs of the future economy, and taking meaningful steps in Indigenous reconciliation.
We would like to thank Darryl Nelson and Haysem Naboulsi from Nelson Environmental Remediation Ltd., Ron Gusek from Liberty Energy, Michael Trofimuk from Baker Hughes, Shellie Clark from Tenaris, January McKee from AMGAS Services, and Sandy Jackson from Pimee Well Servicing LP for attending.
Our team advocated for the following priorities brough forward by our members, to ensure their needs are being considered in the development and implementation of the Sustainable Jobs Plan that Minister Boissonnault will be leading:
- Address labour shortages and expand the pool of qualified workers through enhancing express entry category-based selection to be better-aligned with Canada’s energy security and economic needs.
- Bridging skills gaps with Enserva’s Working Energy Portal, an employment matching tool that will bring together job seekers and employers. Enserva is seeking $2.6 million in government support for the portal.
- Reduce red tape to better facilitate emissions reduction through tangible steps like the creation of a “Canadian Energy Supply Chain Committee” and better incorporation of industry in regulation modernization efforts.
- Bolster indigenous economic reconciliation by supporting the growth of Indigenous participation in energy services and site reclamation and highlighting the role that indigenous communities play in the sector at large.
- Front line worker representation as the Government of Canada moves ahead with the Sustainable Jobs Plan.
Minister Boissonnault was attentive to our members and their contributions to the discussion. He is enthusiastic about the Working Energy Portal that our team has been hard at work developing over the past few months. This portal will match job seekers with vacant jobs at our member’s organizations, in an effort to address and reduce the labour shortage taking place in skilled roles across the sector.
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Federal Minster of Energy and Natural Resources – October 25th, 2023
Last month, Enserva and our members met with the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. This discussion focused on numerous shared priorities to reduce emissions while continuing to create jobs and energy security across Canada. In this discussion, Enserva addressed our member’s eagerness to discuss CCUS and related efforts to facilitate clean technologies, the Sustainable Jobs Plan, the Canada-AB Working Group on Decarbonization, and other shared public policy priorities.
We would like to thank our members Stephen Buffalo from Indian Resource Council, Matt Bryan from SLB Canada Ltd., Scott Matson from Trican Well Service Ltd., Dave McHattie from Tenaris, Ryan Smith from 360 Energy Liability Management, and Adam Alvis from XDI Energy Solutions Inc. for their participation in this roundtable.
The following are our key asks based on what we submitted to the federal government’s pre-budget consultations earlier this summer, in addition to recent engagements with Enserva’s Advocacy Council:
- Ensure the energy services, supply, and manufacturing sector is represented on the Sustainable Jobs Secretariat: Our members want to ensure jobs are protected and that our sector’s voice is heard. As such, we believe the federal government should work with us to ensure we have effective representation on the Secretariat as this initiative continues to develop.
- Support economic reconciliation and environmental cleanup of traditional territories through committing to three years of additional funding for Liability Reduction Program Support programming: As the largest Indigenous employer in Canada, our sector can perform even better with additional funding. To facilitate this ask, the federal government should:
- Commit to three years of additional funding for expanded Liability Reduction Program Support.
- Consider alternatives for Indigenous entities that wish to participate in remediation—who cannot take advantage of tax-exemptions—thereby further incentivizing Indigenous economic participation at all points of Canada’s energy supply chain.
- Support sectoral efforts to ease ESG compliance burdens: Access to capital and the ability to operate in Canada’s energy future will rely in part on the ability to demonstrate ESG performance and direction. A final standard and method of implementation will emerge in time, however, uncertainty in planning and execution is harming strategic planning, therefore impeding capital investment and expenditure. In response to this, the federal government should:
- Reduce red tape across the energy services sector to better facilitate continued lowering of emissions.
- Actively engage with Canada’s securities commissions to ensure compliance burden related impacts to GDP are accounted for in IFRS and ISSB standards discussions.
- Support industry driven initiatives to reduce compliance burdens and build up Canada’s ESG footing.
Minister Wilkinson responded positively to the discussion points above, discussing potential areas of focus for continued collaboration. He also confirmed his intent to continue working closely with the energy industry and Enserva as we address our common shared goals.
