Photo Credit: Abdul Malik

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

Earlier this week, Jason Kenney tweeted out an article with the caption, “A must-read open letter for Canadians from oil and gas workers.” As an oil and gas worker myself, I opened it to find that it was actually a letter signed by 14 CEOs and Presidents demanding a multibillion dollar bailout from the federal government. It came just days after Kenney laid off 26,000 education workers in the province only to announce a $7.5 billion dollar handout to the Keystone XL pipeline.

While working families are being asked to sacrifice their public services and dig into their savings to make ends meet, some of the oil and gas industry’s wealthiest CEOs — many of whom make more money in one year than any worker can make in a lifetime — are demanding that the federal government give them a multibillion dollar bailout by purchasing their accounts receivable. As an actual oil and gas worker, I can think of no worse investment than to hand over billions of dollars to an industry with a very bleak future.

As an actual oil and gas worker, I can think of no worse investment than to hand over billions of dollars to an industry with a very bleak future.

For the past 11 years, I’ve been a machinist in Edmonton, working in the oil and gas sector. I began my apprenticeship immediately after high school graduation in 2008, during the thick of the global financial crisis. There was a lot of uncertainty then about what kind of future my classmates and I were entering into. As bailout packages began to roll out across the country and around the world, I remember feeling no sense of relief as I watched governments hand billions to the banks responsible for the crash, while leaving hard working families to clean up their mess. From Bay Street to the Canadian auto industry, the 2008 bailouts left Canadians footing the bill for CEO bonuses and stock buybacks, while working people struggled to rebuild their retirement funds and recover from a gutted job market. And despite the billions doled out, manufacturing plants across Ontario are still shutting down ten years later.

And now Prime Minister, as open letters and phone calls stream in from oil and gas CEOs and their political allies begging for a bailout, I can’t help but be afraid that you’re gearing up to repeat this same mistake. Right now, at a time when the world needs to move away from fossil fuels, you have the opportunity to invest in the clean energy future that workers and communities need most.

Executive Director of Issues Management for the Premier of Alberta, Matt Wolf, observes the crowd of over 4,000 gathered outside the Alberta Legislature for the September Global Strike

Unfortunately, for many of us here in Alberta, our choice of jobs is often one between oil and gas or unemployment. But it doesn’t have to be that way. What if instead of locking us once again onto the boom-bust rollercoaster of the fossil fuel industry you used your power to change course?

As a real oil and gas worker in Alberta, when I think about the future I want it does not hinge on more fossil fuel investments. Instead, it’s built around something called a Green New Deal for Canada — a bold plan to tackle the climate crisis through an economic transformation that puts people above corporate profit.

Workers in Alberta are skilled enough to work in more than just oil and gas, we just aren’t given the opportunity. But a Green New Deal would invest in us, not corporate executives. Instead of lining the pockets of our multimillionaire bosses, we could redirect the billions going to new fossil fuel projects and instead create millions of good jobs through strategic investments in renewable energy infrastructure and strong universal public services.

Instead of lining the pockets of our multimillionaire bosses, we could redirect the billions going to new fossil fuel projects and instead create millions of good jobs through strategic investments in renewable energy infrastructure and strong universal public services.

In this moment, you have the opportunity to repair the legacy of western alienation felt by Albertan workers by kicking off a jobs boom building a clean energy future that is no longer based on the whims of an unsteady global market. Oil and gas workers like me don’t need company bailouts, we need government support in the form of worker retraining, the ability to bridge to early retirement, and investments in low carbon work, like green energy and transit infrastructure where our skills are directly transferable.

We have to face the bitter reality that another oil boom isn’t coming. But with oil prices expected to drop into the negatives, we have an unprecedented opportunity right now to unite around a just and equitable plan to transition away from fossil fuels. Whether we like it or not, the planet is moving away from oil. We can decide now whether workers will carry that burden or whether we’ll take control of the inevitable and steer it in a way that works best for us all. That’s why we’re counting on you to rise to the scale of this crisis and begin building a Green New Deal that accepts the scale of the climate crisis, respects Indigenous rights and creates a real plan for workers.

We can do this, all we’re waiting for is the political will from those in power. But when you find it, us real oil and gas workers will be ready to get to work.

Signed,

Stephen Buhler