Trinity LaBarre-Song

Dear Minister Guilbeault, On behalf of the Pembina Institute, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide input into Canada’s 2035 emissions reduction target. With this letter, I am summarizing our position, which calls for an ambitious 2035 target that enables all stakeholders across the country to take the bold yet necessary actionrequired to get to this critical milestone on the pathway to net-zero by 2050.

Small, minority- and women-owned fleets face greater financial and institutional impediments to acquiring low-carbon solutions for their businesses, relative to larger, established, companies. New research from the International Council on Clean Transportation backs this up, citing key barriers that include limited access to information and technical support and insufficient time and capacity outside of work hours to navigate government processes.

The energy industry is one of the least equitable industries in Canada for women and gender diverse people and one of the largest drivers of the national wage gap. From oil and gas to pipelines and electricity, women are both paid less and underrepresented across the workforce, including within leadership positions. Canada faces an invaluable opportunity to address these failures as it races to meet the opportunity of a new clean energy economy and its requisite labour demand.