Thank you, Chair. It's an honour to be at this committee.
If I were just reading the business press about bankruptcies, it would seem to me to be sad: markets and tragedy, and everyone trying to do their best. But I come from mining country, and we've seen how it plays out. We've seen how the Pamour gold mine, an extraordinary gold operation, was taken over by Peggy Witte and Royal Oak, how it was stripped of assets and how she paid out bonuses to all the members of the board of directors.
They left that mine till it fell into the ground, and then they all gave themselves golden parachutes and they walked away. That wasn't considered criminal behaviour. She was mining woman of the year, and the Pamour miners—many who were injured, who had illnesses—were left with nothing.
I want to ask the Canadian Labour Congress, is this something that just happens in my region among working-class people, or is this how corporate Canada has treated workers and their pension obligations time and time again?