My understanding is that the report was done and we did not get a response, so we need to bring it back to committee and then ask for the government response.
Critical minerals are essential. There's a massive, worldwide geopolitical struggle going on, particularly with China. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and all over the world we have horrific human rights abuses taking place in the search for critical minerals, yet, here in Canada we have the opportunity to mine those minerals in an environmentally safe manner with proper health and safety standards and with agreements with indigenous communities.
I certainly speak for my region. I live in a town called Cobalt, which is a critical mineral. Our industries are very much focused on this and on the potential of getting us to near zero through the use of battery technology. These important minerals would be much better mined in Canada than in some other jurisdictions where the rule of law is very suspect.
I applaud the committee for the excellent work they did under Mr. Maloney. I followed a lot of the committee's work, and I think it would be a complete waste if we did not get a response from the government. I'm more than willing to vote to have that study brought in. If we have to resurrect it, we can then ask for a response to it to be sent to our committee and then our committee can look at the government's recommendations. I'm ready to vote on that.