Anti-fossil fuel advocates like to say this country should dump the petroleum sector in favor of alternative energy production but they don’t talk about the thousands who would be left on the outside looking in.
A new report from StatsCan has identified the environment and clean technology sector as a segment of the economy responsible for 1.6 percent of all jobs in the country. But a similar report on the petroleum energy sector says that part of the economy accounts for five-percent of the jobs.
There is quite a gap – about 3.5 percent of all the people with a job. Accepting the environmentalist’s perspective would result in an unemployment rate close to 10-percent and would, without doubt, precipitate a recession.
Clearly making such a shift cannot happen quickly. Further, it does not take into account the value of exports….we generate billions in petroleum exports but are hardly noticeable on the global alternative energy scene. So the impact of ending fossil fuel production would be catastrophic if not spread out over decades.
