Alberta needs to create jobs to replace the thousands lost due to the recession. It also needs to clean up the environment.

Some would have us believe that we can't do both, that we have to choose between jobs and the environment - but that's far from the truth. Other jurisdictions are investing in their future by trying to build sustainable economies and creating jobs that will improve the environment. Alberta must do the same, or face being left behind and seeing good jobs go to other provinces and other countries.

Labour and environmental groups recognize that they must work together to create the kind of jobs that will not only protect the planet, but will sustain our economy for generations to come.

The Alberta Federation of Labour has joined with Sierra Club Prairie and Greenpeace to produce a report called Green Jobs: It's time to build Alberta's future. The report points out that Alberta is in a far better position financially to build this better, cleaner future than other jurisdictions, but is falling short. Ontario has recently introduced legislation that aims to create 50,000 green jobs; Prince Edward Island is gearing up for the massive development of wind power; Spain, China, the U.S. and other countries are investing billions of dollars to upgrade transit and high-speed rail; the U.S. is investing $11 billion to create jobs improving the environmental performance of homes.

The approach in Alberta has been a carbon tax so small as to have little effect and spending $2 billion developing carbon capture and storage technologies that will be suitable for capturing only a small portion of CO2 from the oil sands. This is despite the fact that Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions are far higher than anywhere else in Canada and are growing rapidly.

The report says the Alberta government can put tens of thousands of Albertans back to work, building a cleaner, greener economy. Investments here will create far more jobs than new are getting by throwing money at the oil and gas sector.

Albertans would welcome this kind of green investment. A poll in March 2009 showed that Albertans would overwhelmingly prefer subsidies for renewable and clean energy (78%) compared to subsidies for oil and gas (11%).

It's the right thing to do, it's the popular thing to do - but the time to act is now.