Alberta green-strategy would create thousands of jobs: report

Jamie Hall, April 22, 2009, edmontonjournal.com -- Labour groups and environmentalists introduced a report in Edmonton on Wednesday that would turn blue-collar Alberta into more of a green-collar province.

A report commissioned by the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Sierra Club's prairie chapter and Greenpeace suggests the Alberta government can create thousands of jobs almost immediately by adopting a green-jobs strategy.

"This report shows undeniably that a green investment will allow us to diversify our economy, to stabilize it and to put people to work immediately building our green energy future," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

The report says the province should focus investment in three key areas; transit and high-speed rail, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The latter would see the province pick up the billion-dollar tab to retrofit the nearly 500,000 homes in Alberta which are currently not energy efficient, through insulation, weather-stripping and installing high efficiency windows and furnaces, says the report.

Not only would it put almost 15,000 tradespeople to work over the next two years, the investment required for the upgrades would pay for itself through reducing energy consumption, says the report.

Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema said the government has an opportunity to become a world leader in environmental sustainability through the recommendations outlined in the report.

"Instead of investing $2 billion in false solutions like carbon capture and storage, the government should choose solutions that will help every Albertan," he said.

"The time has come to let go of what's clearly not working and begin focusing our energy on creating a clean, green economy to sustain future generations."