Good Jobs, Cleaner Future: A Plan for Workers and the Climate

The false choice between good-paying jobs and a clean environment is one that Liberals and Conservatives consistently push – and it consistently delivers failure on both fronts. The truth is, Canada has what it takes to lead. We have everything we need to create good, union jobs while protecting our planet: critical minerals, renewable energy, sustainable forestry, and clean manufacturing.

When we invest in clean technologies, renewable energy projects, and energy efficiency, we’re not just tackling the climate crisis, we’re creating opportunities for this generation and the next. The importance of this work goes beyond meeting the international commitments we’ve made, including the Paris Agreement and the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Yes, we have to meet those commitments, but Canada can and should do more. Further, to build prosperity that lasts and benefits everyone, we must be committed to respecting inherent and treaty rights, and the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples.

This plan shows that protecting our environment and creating good jobs aren’t competing priorities. They are the same fight. By ending subsidies to polluters, investing in green infrastructure, supporting workers, and building the public transit system Canada needs, we can tackle the climate crisis while building an economy that works for everyone.

Commit to a Green Future and End Profiting from the Climate Crisis

Invest in Climate Adaptation and Nature

Read more —

Invest in Climate Adaptation and Nature

Create and Support Jobs in a Green Economy

Rethink the Major Projects Office

Read more —

Rethink the Major Projects Office

Help Families and Communities Meet their Climate Goals

Build a Transit System that Works for Everyone

Put Communities and Customers at the Centre of Clean Energy

Commit to a Green Future and End Profiting from the Climate Crisis

The problem:

Across Canada, people are feeling the worst impacts of climate change – from extreme heat, to flooding, to forest fires. It's costing lives and communities, and we must keep up the fight to protect our environment. For a long time, oil and gas companies have profited while contributing to the climate crisis. While Canadians suffer, their executives continue to earn record profits and lay off workers. Every year, the industry receives billions in taxpayer dollars while communities pay the price of pollution and climate disasters.

The plan:

Make polluters pay and reinvest those funds in climate solutions and cost-of-living relief for Canadians. End the era of subsidizing the corporations driving the climate crisis.

How it works:

End Federal Subsidies for Oil and Gas Companies – Stop giving billions in taxpayer dollars to an industry that's fueling the climate crisis while laying off workers and raking in record profits.
Strengthen the industrial carbon pricing – Ensure that all provinces and territories meet or exceed federal industrial carbon price standards so large polluters can't avoid accountability.
Collect a Corporate Windfall Profits Tax – Generate an estimated $4.2 billion from excess profits of oil and gas companies and others whose profits have exceeded previous standards, and reinvest it directly in climate solutions and cost-of-living relief for Canadian families.
Require Private Financial Institutions to Act on Climate Change – Update the rules for banks, insurers, and pension funds so they prioritize the long-term financial security of Canadians over short-term profit, shift money from polluting projects to clean energy and sustainable infrastructure, and protect savings and pensions as our economy changes.

How it helps:

Canadians stop subsidizing the corporations driving climate change. Billions of dollars are redirected from oil and gas executives' pockets into renewable energy, climate adaptation, and support for families struggling with the cost of living. Polluters finally pay for the pollution they cause.

Invest in Climate Adaptation and Nature

The problem:

Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in green technology and climate infrastructure, despite massive potential to lead. Communities across the country – especially rural, remote, and northern regions – lack the resources to prepare for or respond to the increasing number of climate disasters. Indigenous peoples, who have been stewards of the land for millennia, are shut out of decision-making while their territories face the worst impacts of climate change.

The plan:

Build the climate infrastructure Canada needs to protect communities, preserve biodiversity, and create good jobs. Respect Indigenous jurisdiction and leadership on climate action while investing in the adaptation and conservation projects that will safeguard our future.

How it works:

Expand and Invest in the National Adaptation Strategy – Develop a comprehensive, cross-government plan to reduce future climate-related costs and prepare communities for the changes already underway.
Invest in disaster mitigation and adaptation infrastructure – Provide municipalities, businesses, renters and homeowners with long-term, predictable, and sufficient funding to build the infrastructure needed to be ready for and respond to floods, fires, extreme heat, and other climate impacts, with special attention to rural and remote areas.
Respect First Nations, Métis, and Inuit jurisdiction on climate – Ensure that Indigenous governments and leadership can continue as stewards of their lands, make decisions about climate projects in their territories, and create jobs in their communities.
Protect 30% of Canada's Land, Waters, and Seas by 2030 – Work with provinces, territories, municipalities, and Indigenous governments to conserve at least 30 per cent of Canada's land, freshwater, and ocean areas through protected areas and Indigenous-led conservation. Protected areas should focus on large, ecologically representative regions that collectively capture all natural diversity, include places that provide valuable ecosystem services, and be connected through wildlife corridors. Protected area management needs to be improved through better tracking, long-term financing for stewardship, and policies to curb wildlife trade and habitat destruction. Recognize Indigenous territories and governance, support Indigenous Guardians programs, and ensure conservation efforts protect biodiversity while respecting the rights and traditional practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

How it helps:

Communities gain the infrastructure and resources they need to withstand climate disasters and protect lives and property. Indigenous peoples exercise their rightful authority over their lands while leading conservation and climate projects that create jobs and protect biodiversity. Canada builds resilience while respecting the knowledge and leadership of those who know the land best.

Create and Support Jobs in a Green Economy

The problem:

Workers can't be forgotten as we prioritize green technologies and climate adaptation. So far, the move toward a green economy has been treated as something that happens to workers, not with them. Without real support, workers in fossil fuel industries and other sectors face uncertainty, while opportunities in renewable energy and clean technology go unfilled due to a lack of training and pathways. Meanwhile, workers' rights are under attack – corporations use scabs to break strikes, make it difficult to form unions, and lobby governments to impose back-to-work legislation that strips away the right to bargain collectively.

The plan:

Build a green economy that puts workers first. Partner with unions and industries to create clear pathways to emerging industries, support workers displaced by economic shifts, ensure that green jobs are good union jobs with fair wages and benefits, and strengthen workers' power to organize and fight for better conditions.

How it works:

Protect Canadian Industries from Unfair Trade – Support industries hit hard by tariffs and trade disruptions, particularly steel, aluminum, and manufacturing, with funding to modernize facilities, invest in clean technology, and remain competitive. Canadian workers and manufacturers shouldn't pay the price for trade wars.
Work with Unions and Industries – Enhance worker mobility across industries, expand apprenticeship opportunities in green sectors, and support union-led training programs that prepare workers for careers in renewable energy, retrofits, and clean technology.
Keep Energy Communities Working – When oil and gas facilities close or scale back, bring in new industries to use the same infrastructure and workers. Oil and gas facilities have the power supply, rail access, and skilled workforce that new industries need. Support communities to bring in renewable energy manufacturing and battery production. For example, welders manufacture wind components, electricians wire battery plants, heavy equipment operators build solar farms. Workers stay employed with their skills valued, and industrial sites stay productive instead of being abandoned.
Guarantee support for workers – When workers are displaced by economic shifts, ensure income support, retraining funding, and early retirement options are guaranteed through legislation. This legislated right ensures no worker is left behind as we build a green economy, and complements reformed and fully funded Employment Insurance with protections designed to meet the specific needs of affected communities.
Significantly increase funding for the Youth Climate Corps – Expand opportunities for young Canadians to build climate adaptation infrastructure, drive down emissions, and gain hands-on experience in the green economy while earning a living wage.
Take an ownership stake in early-stage green technology startups – Foster Canadian innovation, create jobs, and ensure that Canadian-made clean technology stays in Canada for the public good rather than being sold off to foreign corporations.
Strengthen workers' right to organize – Make it easier to join unions through card-check certification, eliminate company unions like the CLAC through legislation that ensures union representation is independent and democratic, ban scabs on all federally-regulated workplaces and federally-funded projects, and end all forms of back-to-work legislation, including section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.

How it helps:

Workers gain access to retraining, new career pathways, income support, and stronger rights to organize and fight for fair treatment. Communities benefit from repurposed infrastructure that creates local jobs in growing industries. Young people enter the green economy with practical skills and clear career paths. Canada retains ownership and control of the technologies we develop, keeping jobs and innovation here at home. Workers can form unions without fear, strike without being replaced, and bargain collectively without government interference.

Rethink the Major Projects Office

The problem:

The Liberals and Conservatives teamed up to pass a bill that puts investors first, not workers, Indigenous peoples, or communities. The Major Projects Office was designed to fast-track approvals for large infrastructure projects, without strong requirements for union jobs, community benefits, meaningful Indigenous consent, or environmental protections. By prioritizing a plan for a pipeline to British Columbia’s north coast without the support of the Government of British Columbia, in opposition to the clear and legally grounded positions of affected First Nations, and in contravention of the existing ban on tanker traffic in the region, the government made clear that it intends for its Major Projects Office to function as a tool for corporate profit rather than the public good. That’s not an acceptable path forward.

The plan:

Ensure that every major project approved in Canada meets our climate goals, creates good union jobs, delivers real and long-term benefits to communities, and respects the rights and jurisdiction of Indigenous peoples. Use federal infrastructure investment as a tool to build the clean, publicly-owned energy systems Canada needs.

How it works:

Prioritize projects that help meet our climate goals – Focus federal support on projects like an East-West, North-South Electricity Grid and other publicly-owned ultra-low emission electricity generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure that will decarbonize our energy grid and build energy independence.
Require strict union job requirements and community benefits – Every project approved through the Major Projects Office must create good-paying union jobs and deliver tangible benefits to host communities, such as water treatment plants, long-term, affordable, and reliable electricity, housing, and local infrastructure.
Guarantee free, prior and informed consent – Ensure that all projects honour the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples by requiring genuine consultation from the beginning, not as an afterthought. Require co-ownership arrangements or benefit-sharing agreements, so Indigenous communities directly benefit from projects in their territories, following models like revenue sharing, equity stakes, and employment guarantees.

How it helps:

Major infrastructure projects become tools for building a cleaner, fairer economy. Workers gain access to good union jobs with fair wages and benefits. Communities receive schools, healthcare, clean water, and other essential services as part of development projects. Indigenous peoples exercise their rightful authority over projects in their territories and benefit directly from economic development. Canada builds the renewable energy infrastructure needed to meet climate goals while keeping projects in public hands.

Help Families and Communities Meet their Climate Goals

The problem:

Households and communities need support to reduce emissions and protect their local environments. Families want to lower their carbon footprint and energy bills but can't afford upfront costs for retrofits or clean energy upgrades. Municipalities lack the funding to invest in local climate solutions, expand green infrastructure, or make transit accessible and affordable. Meanwhile, pollution and environmental degradation disproportionately harm Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities.

The plan:

Give families and municipalities the tools and funding they need to tackle the climate crisis at the local level. Make it affordable for households to reduce emissions, expand municipal capacity to invest in climate solutions, and address environmental injustice in communities that have borne the heaviest burden of pollution.

How it works:

Ensure heating and power for Canadians first - Work with all levels of government to put Canadians first when it comes to energy. That means setting limits on how much power goes to data centres, and ending public power handouts to coal mines.
Expand the Green Municipal Fund – Give municipalities greater ability to invest in climate solutions that meet their communities' specific needs, from green infrastructure to local renewable energy projects.
Fund energy retrofit programs – Help households reduce their carbon footprint and energy bills through heat pumps, grants, and support for retrofits, with targeted funding for low-income households, rental properties, and Indigenous housing where the need is greatest.
Pass an Environmental Bill of Rights – Establish legal protections for the right to a healthy environment and create an Office of Environmental Justice to address the disproportionate impacts of pollution and biodiversity loss on Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities.

How it helps:

Families save money on energy bills while reducing their environmental impact. Low-income households and renters, who have been left out of previous programs, gain access to retrofits and clean energy. Municipalities build the climate infrastructure their communities need while creating local jobs. Indigenous, Black, and other communities facing racism gain legal tools to fight environmental racism and hold polluters accountable. Canada moves closer to climate goals in a more inclusive, fair, and accessible way.

Build a Transit System that Works for Everyone

The problem:

Across the country, public transit in Canada is underfunded and neglected. Cities struggle to maintain aging fleets, expand service, and keep fares affordable. Many communities lack reliable transit options entirely, forcing people to rely on expensive private vehicles that increase emissions and congest roads. Rural and remote communities are often completely disconnected from regional transit networks. Meanwhile, privatization threatens to put profits ahead of riders, and inadequate federal support leaves municipalities unable to meet the growing demand for clean, accessible, and affordable public transportation.

The plan:

Make public transit a national priority by investing in modern, electrified fleets, making transit affordable and accessible for everyone, and protecting transit as a public service. Build a transportation network for the future that connects communities, reduces emissions, and supports workers.

How it works:

Invest in modern, electrified transit – Double federal funding to $4.4 billion for fleet electrification by 2030 and provide municipalities with stable, long-term funding to expand service, build new routes, and maintain existing infrastructure. Replace aging diesel buses and vehicles with clean electric alternatives that reduce emissions and improve air quality.
Make transit affordable and accessible – Explore free or low-cost transit options to remove barriers and ensure everyone can access public transportation regardless of income. Provide extra incentives for municipalities that significantly reduce or eliminate transit fees.
Connect communities with regional transit – Show federal leadership by establishing a national public transportation service that would expand inter-community bus service and regional transit networks so small businesses and people in smaller communities and rural areas can reach jobs, services, customers, and opportunities.
Build high-speed and high-frequency rail – Connect Canadian cities with modern, efficient rail service that reduces travel times, cuts emissions, and offers a real alternative to flying or driving. Transform Via Rail into a world-class passenger rail system.
Keep transit public and protect workers – Oppose privatization schemes that put profits ahead of people. Guarantee that transit remains a public service accountable to riders, not shareholders, and that transit expansion supports good jobs. Work with provinces to share the cost of running transit systems, ensuring municipalities can afford to operate reliable service year-round.

How it helps:

Communities gain access to reliable, affordable, and clean public transit that reduces emissions, eases congestion, and connects people to jobs, services, and opportunities. Riders benefit from lower fares, better service, and modern vehicles. Workers have secure employment with fair wages. Canada moves closer to its climate goals while building the transportation network we need for the future.

Put Communities and Customers at the Centre of Clean Energy

The problem:

When the power goes out during storms or extreme weather, families are left in the dark with no backup plan. Your home could be helping balance the electricity grid and saving everyone money, but utilities have no incentive. Liberal tax credits are handed to private developers with no requirements that communities benefit. Extreme weather is getting worse, and power outages are becoming more frequent and longer, but communities remain dependent and vulnerable with no ability to generate or store their own energy.

The plan:

Make utilities incentivize the use of electricity when it's cheapest and cleanest. Give communities the tools to generate, store, and use their own energy so they can stay powered during emergencies and reduce costs year-round. Redirect federal electricity subsidies to serve communities and citizens, not just private developers' profits.

How it works:

Make electricity a two-way street – Require utilities to offer programs where you get incentives for using electricity smartly. Heat your water and charge your EV overnight when power is cheap, These programs reduce costs for everyone.
Build community energy independence – Fund communities to create climate resilience hubs (schools, libraries, community centres) built to super-insulated standards that maintain safe temperatures for days without power. Support local renewable generation, battery storage, and microgrids that can keep operating during outages. Help neighborhoods and apartment buildings install shared solar and battery systems so renters and condo owners can participate. Communities will generate their own clean energy, cut costs, and stay powered during emergencies.
Protect vulnerable people during emergencies – Fund community organizations to establish networks that check in on seniors, people with disabilities, and those with medical equipment during power outages and extreme weather, ensuring no one is left isolated or unsafe.
Support Indigenous-led energy solutions – Provide dedicated funding for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities to develop their own energy plans, build renewable systems, and achieve energy independence on their terms. Indigenous governments will lead projects that respect traditional knowledge, create local jobs, and ensure communities are never left in the dark.
Reform federal electricity programs and building standards – Transform federal programs to prioritize projects that help Canadians become energy independent and protected from outages. Ensure non-profits, co-ops, condominiums, and Indigenous organizations can access clean technology tax credits, not just private corporations. Update Canada's building codes to require climate resilience standards including FireSmart practices for wildfire protection, flood-resistant construction, extreme heat adaptation, and grid-interactive efficient buildings.

How it helps:

Your electricity bills go down, and your home becomes more resilient. Communities gain energy independence and protection from power outages instead of relying entirely on centralized utilities. Vulnerable people have safe places to go and support networks during emergencies. Indigenous communities exercise self-determination over their energy systems. Federal electricity subsidies flow to citizens and communities instead of just private developers' profits. Canada builds a smarter, cheaper, cleaner electricity system that works for people, not corporations.

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Commit to a Green Future and End Profiting from the Climate Crisis

Invest in Climate Adaptation and Nature

Create and Support Jobs in a Green Economy

Rethink the Major Projects Office

Help Families and Communities Meet their Climate Goals

Build a Transit System that Works for Everyone

Put Communities and Customers at the Centre of Clean Energy

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