What is a real job?
As Canada’s economy struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery has been learning a lot about the real opportunities required to bring back millions of lost jobs.
This is not to suggest that the only real jobs are ones in certain areas of the economy, and other jobs aren’t real.
A real job is one that exists. We have a responsibility to create employment by pursuing realistic opportunities that result in real jobs. We are going to need to see a lot more of them coming back.
Economists predict job growth will be uneven and slow. Whole sectors will remain effectively mothballed, maybe well into 2021. Building real jobs means looking for areas of real opportunity, right here at home in Canada. Fortunately, we already know where we have unassailable strategic advantages, and it will make sense to start the recovery efforts by encouraging things within our control where markets are already waiting for the goods and services that result from people doing their jobs.
The world needs Canada for products that it cannot do without. Energy, forestry, agri-food, chemicals, manufacturing and mining all represent real opportunities to build jobs today for real recovery tomorrow. By putting our strongest efforts into developing the opportunities that are close at hand, we will have the best chance of a speedy and strong recovery.
Why natural resources?
Natural resources account for much of the social success of Canada, providing employment, a specialized supply chain through the entire economy, and large revenues to government. The result is one of the highest standards of living in the whole world.
Today we are facing the double challenge of how to maintain this advantage in the face of climate change and the deep impacts of COVID-19.
We’re well aware that there are those who see the answer as being to make natural resource jobs just go away. We do not believe this represents a solution for Canada.
This doesn’t mean there is an easy fix, or that we can ignore the challenges of decarbonization and go along as usual. We believe that the potential lies in us to solve these problems without having to sacrifice Canada's economic standing and place in the world. We have the tools, the talents and the natural resources to do what’s right in the decades ahead.
In response to calls from government for ideas and inputs, the diverse coalition behind the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery is working to gather and develop recommendations on how to preserve and strengthen natural resource jobs and linked jobs in these times.
Organized by
