CBTU ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CLEAN INVESTMENT TAX CREDITS

Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), the national voice of over half a million Canadian construction workers, submitted recommendations to the government’s consultation process on labour conditions for clean tech and clean hydrogen investment tax credits.

These recommendations minimize the negative effects the green technologies have on workers, communities, and the economy, ensuring that workers are kept at the forefront of the transition to net-zero. They include:

• Prevailing wage be determined using the total wage package, including pensions and benefits through collective bargaining agreements and/or union project labour agreements.
• Strengthened tax credits keep Canada competitive with US tax credits, which are increased by five times when prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are met. CBTU recommends increasing the Investment Tax Credit for Clean Technologies up to a maximum of 40% and increasing the Investment Tax Credit for Clean Hydrogen up to a 50% maximum if good labour conditions are met.
• The following apprenticeship and diversity requirements: the overall apprenticeship hours to journeyperson hours be 25% for all worker hours averaged over a project, and a minimum of 10% of all hours worked be performed by underrepresented groups (Indigenous peoples, women, Black Canadians, and other people of colour) and veterans.

“CBTU’s recommendations would grow and diversify the construction industry while promoting green, sustainable infrastructure,” said BAC Canada Regional Director Craig Strudwick. “Setting prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and diversity requirements to qualify for clean investment tax credits will raise the bar for all construction projects, and workers aren’t left behind as Canada advances to net-zero.”