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Issue 46
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Task Force releases findings on coal communities By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Near ly nine months after their visit to the Energy City, the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities has released its final report. The report was published on Monday afternoon. Hassan Yusseff, who chaired the task force, said the most important part is to treat communities affected by the coal phase-out differently. Some areas could try to convert their coal-fired generating stations to natural gas, while provinces like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia don’t have access to gas. In the case of Estevan, the presence of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station makes it different than the other affected communities. “When you meet with the workers, they ’re very proud of the technology, but equally so, what we did hear from SaskPower is that in order to maintain this technology, a lot of things that are riding on it,” said Yussuff. They also heard concern from workers about what would happen once coal can’t be utilized any longer, or what they would do once units at Boundary Dam reached their life expectancy. “They did certainly indicate that they would have to look at how they can get gas to those facilities and try to
Hassan Yussuff spoke in Estevan last year during a visit from the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities. File photo convert them,” said Yussuff. In a place like Coronach, which is more isolated and smaller than Estevan, there was a lot of concern in the community as to what might replace jobs lost in the coal phase-out. “The recognition might be that some of those people might have to move if they want to do something with their lives, and aren’t old enough to retire,” said Yussuff. It calls to embed just transition principles in plan-
ning, legislative, regulatory, and advisory processes to ensure ongoing and concrete actions throughout the coal phase-out transition, with a just transition plan for the coal phase-out; include provisions in federal environmental and labour legislation and regulations; and establish a targeted, long-term research fund for studying the impact of the coal phaseout and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Locally available supports will be through fund-
ing the establishment and operation of locally-driven transition centres in affected coal communities. A pension-bridging program will be created for workers who will retire earlier than planned due to the coal phase out. A detailed and publicly available inventory will be created with labour market information pertaining to coal workers, such as skills profiles, demographics, locations, and current and potential employers; and
a comprehensive funding program will be established for workers staying in the labour market to address their needs across the stages of securing a new job, including income support, education and skills building, re-employment, and mobility. The task force calls on the federal government to invest in community infrastructure by identifying, prioritizing, and funding local infrastructure projects in affected communities. Finally, they want the government to establish a dedicated, comprehensive, inclusive and flexible just transition funding program for affected communities, and meet directly with affected communities to learn about their local priorities, and to connect them with federal programs that could support their goals. The federal government has called for a phase-out of conventional coal-fired electricity by 2030, but coalfired power plants will open beyond 2030 if carbon capture and storage is involved. While there is money to support those who decide to seek new employment in new industries, which would force them to relocate, there is also money for those who want to remain in a community. “We did recognize that not everybody will want the same options. Some would want to move, and some would want to remain in
their communities. And for a variety of reasons, some may decide they’re close to retirement, so if they can bridge or retire within the time frame the phase-out would happen, they would prefer to stay there,” said Yussuff. Most of the workers they talked to, particularly the older ones, would prefer to stay in their community. Communities that lose coal mining and coal-fired generation will lose those well-paying jobs, which would create indirect impacts, so the task force believes there should be a community fund that can be used to attract other industries. “We did hear a lot about that,” said Yussuff. “As we travelled to many communities, there are already efforts that have been made to get a position for new employment that could replace the … coal mining side.” Those communities hoped that if they could access funds, it would help them a lot. When the government created the task force, Yussuff said there was a $36 million fund to look at how it could help the communities. Out of that fund, they announced two transition centres would be set up in Alberta, since that province is further along in the coal phase-out process. “As those other provinces start to think about the timeframe they are working towards, they might also A2 » TASK
New alerting system to combat rural crime A new measure has been launched for residents in the southern part of the province to deliver information about criminal activity in their area directly from the RCMP. The Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network can send text messages, emails or phone calls to residents. People can sign up and choose how they would like to get these advisories. It’s offered through a partnership with the provincial government, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Muncipalities. Superintendent Kevin Kunetski, who is the south district officer for the RCMP, said this new system will give the RCMP the ability to communicate directly with the public, which they have not
had in the past. “The RCMP … wants to have that ability to connect with people as quickly as possible when it’s needed,” said Kunetski. “So there’s two types of things that the system will help us benefit with.” The first is if they have a rash of crimes in an area, such as break and enters. The system can be used to get the information out quickly to people in a particular detachment area so they can be more alert about those issues. The other issue is if they need the public’s assistance with a crime. “In some cases, we need their assistance right away, and that may be we had a recent crime, and we have a suspect description and a vehicle description,” said Kunetski. “This system allows us to get
information out right away.” The traditional way they would do that is through a media release, and the media has always been helpful in getting that information to the public. Now the public, and the media, can be tipped off earlier. “This allows us to do both,” said Kunetski. “We actually not only want the public to be on there (the alert system), we want the media to be on there, too.” The more information they can get out there, and the faster they can get it out there, the better. “We recognize the media also has a tremendous network, and so this system allows us to get that information out to as many people as we can quicker,” he said. There is also an opportu-
nity for the people to help the RCMP a little more. When they hear about things happening in the community, sometimes they can feel powerless to get involved. “This is a way that everyone can contribute, and just have better knowledge of what’s happening in their communities, and know who to call and what to do, and be a part of safe communities,” he said. “Everyone has a role to play and can play a role.” The RCMP also hopes this will reduce crime rates, but that won’t be known for some time. Kunetski doesn’t know of any other police agencies that have tried this initiative. He believes municipal policing forces might have something similar, and there have been efforts with Rural
Crime Watch initiatives. Where the police would send something to the rural Crime Watch co-ordinator, who would then pass it on to others, this system allows for a bigger network and for people to sign up from neighbouring communities. The RCMP has already sent out a couple of notifications, including one for a theft of a fuel tank from Weyburn. There was also one for a break and enter from the Melville area. Both cases were still open as of Tuesday morning. Kunetski hopes this system can eventually be expanded to central and northern Saskatchewan. “We’ll gage interest as we go forward here, and as we continue to advertise the program,” said Kunetski. They will also promote it
at the upcoming convention of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM). “We want to encourage everyone to sign up, because it will allow us to gage the interest as well, and so then we can go back and talk about if are we ready expand, and if is there a lot of interest,” said Kunetski. “If that exists, then that certainly makes it easier.” The Government of Saskatchewan is providing approximately $50,000 for the RCMP to initially launch this system in southern Saskatchewan. People can sign up by visiting the website for SARM or the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, or by visiting the Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network.
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