Industrial Strategies for Green Jobs: Opportunities and Obstacles in the Ontario Case

Doing something about the environmental crisis without harming the economy and jobs has been a dilemma for governments for many years. This paper explores the potential and opportunities conferred by green jobs economic strategies using the example of Ontario's Green Energy policy. This case also highlights the obstacles to achieving that positive sum result posed by international economic agreements. Trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO, however, may have an impact on state capacity to enact and implement industrial policies, since green economic strategies can be seen as a particular variant of an industrial strategy. The domestic content provisions in Ontario's Green Energy Act, and alleged subsidization through the FIT have already triggered trade complaints and an action by Japan. Government procurement is a central plank in the defence of Ontario's policy, though one that is threatened by possibly enhanced procurement openness that Canada is negotiating, with provinces at the table, in new economic agreements such as CETA. Outcomes are uncertain but as this case study shows trade and investment agreements do pose a challenge to green industrial policies especially if government procurement protections are sacrificed or substantially weakened.