With its steel mills and manufacturing plants under increasing pressure, Hamilton Ontario, once dubbed the “forward cleat in the Golden Horseshoe of industrial development” is a natural choice for Blue Green Canada’s activities.
Since January of 2010 Blue Green Canada has worked to increase knowledge and interest in growing green jobs in Hamilton. We have built a strong alliance with Environment Hamilton, the Hamilton and District Labour Council, and Green Venture to hold three public information session. Each session grew in attendance and expertise -. a testament to the recognition of the promise of the green economy and the appetite for good green jobs.
For videos of the presentation at our December session, click here.
Since April, we’ve been involved in a number of initiatives.
We stood with the workers at the Siemens Canada plant in Hamilton when the closure was announced. We have been calling for the conversion of this plant to wind turbine manufacture, and working to show how this could be achieved.
We have had consistent discussions with municipal leaders to encourage the development of green jobs strategies for our local economy. We welcomed the inclusion of such ideas in the new economic development plan. Even better the announcement of 300 solar cell manufacturing jobs coming to Hamilton.
We want to build on this and are working to:
If you’re interested in becoming involved with BlueGreen Canada in Hamilton, contact Bill Thompson, our regional coordinator.
Sudbury Ontario has a long history of mining, and is also the site of the largest ecology recovery effort in the world. As the mining jobs are lost and the once-denuded landscape is "re-greened," Sudbury is undergoing substantial changes, making it an ideal candidate for a Blue Green Canada campaign.
Blue Green Canada's first initiative in Sudbury was to host a Good Green Jobs Conference on April 22 as part of a three day Green Earth Expo. Topics included Careers in Renewable Energy Industries, Opportunities in Retrofitting, Understanding the Green Energy Act, and Career Training Programs in the Green Economy.
The event was well attended, and garnered coverage on three television stations and the front page story in the Sudbury Star.
In June, we invited local community groups to meet and discuss green economic development in Sudbury. The initial meeting was attended by 18 community leaders, and dealt with three topics:
This meeting led to the establishment of a working group with about 10 participants and a facebook group to gather suggestions for questions to ask candidates in the upcoming municipal election. Candidates will be asked to respond to the questions at an upcoming town hall meeting, scheduled for October 6th, and expound on their platforms policies regarding environmental conservation, good green jobs and the development of renewable energy industries. We're proud to say that Blue Green Canada sponsored the initial meeting in June which got this ball rolling and Gordon, our regional coordinator, will be hosting the Good Green Jobs portion of the evening. For more details, visit www.lu-ltspp.ca/townhall/ggqg_home.html
If you are interested in learning more about BlueGreen Canada’s activities in Sudbury, feel free to contact Gordon Harris, our program coordinator for the Sudbury and Northern Ontario region. He can be reached local at 705 207-5631 or via email at gharris@environmentaldefence.ca.
Blue Green Canada is an alliance between the United Steelworkers (USW) and Environmental Defence to advocate for working people and the environment in key areas of global trade, the use of toxic chemicals in commercial activity, the creation of green manufacturing jobs, and in the development of strategies to address climate change. We welcome your thoughts - info@bluegreencanada.ca
With the generous support of 