Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members.

My name is Sean Strickland, and I serve as the executive director of Canada's Building Trades Unions, the national voice for over 600,000 skilled tradespeople in Canada who belong to 14 international unions and work in more than 60 different trades and occupations.

I am pleased to be here today to talk about the positive impacts that the skilled trades anticipate from the investment tax credits and the substantial benefits to the broader construction industry from the measures in this bill.

I want to be clear with members of the committee that the investment tax credits are a game-changer for all construction workers, union and non-union. We urge Parliament to move forward as quickly as possible. That's because, for the first time, government incentives in the tax code that encourage investment in priority projects are being directly tied to delivering benefits for skilled trades workers. The investment tax credits are a true win-win for skilled trades workers, businesses investing in clean technology and for all Canadians.

Bill C-59 will require that companies that are claiming ITCs and investing in projects involving clean technology, clean hydrogen, clean electricity, nuclear and carbon capture that want to receive the maximum benefit must pay good wages—union wages and benefits—to the skilled trades workers who are building these projects.

The prevailing wage requirement in the investment tax credit is, without a doubt, the best definition of prevailing wage in Canadian labour history. Regardless of whether a skilled trades worker is one of our members or not, they will be paid the robust wages and benefits we've negotiated through multi-employer collective agreements.

This bill is also a monumental win for developing our Canadian skilled trades workforce. The provisions of the investment tax credit require companies to hire apprentices. This is important. Developing the skilled trades workforce for the future requires high-quality, well-paid apprenticeship opportunities. It is critical that companies receive incentives to invest in training of the next generation clean economy workforce, and the 10% apprenticeship requirement is an outstanding measure to help ensure that we're doing what we need to do to build the clean economy workforce of the future.

Moreover, because of the strong prevailing wage requirements, many more Canadian workers will be attracted to the skilled trades to the benefit of them and their families. Beyond benefits to the workforce as another critical reason to advance this bill, there is regulatory certainty. You've heard that from other delegations today. There are tens of billions of dollars in final investment decisions—and I don't say that lightly—awaiting the certainty that the passage of this bill will bring.

From new net-zero petrochemical production facilities in Alberta and carbon sequestration to small modular nuclear projects in Ontario and New Brunswick and hydrogen projects in Atlantic Canada, there are billions of dollars on hold that can start flowing into our economy, including wages into the jeans of Canadian workers.

We know that these measures do work. We've seen it in the United States under the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS act. On behalf of the members of Canada's Building Trades Unions, we have one overriding message to this committee: We can't wait.

To the benefit of Canadian construction workers, our environment and the Canadian economy, we look forward to the passing of this bill. Let's get to work.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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