Yes, I think there is a risk that we are standing on the sidelines while other industrialized countries are jumping with both feet into building a clean-energy future, a broader net-zero future. It's the United States with the IRA. It's Europe with the European Green Deal.
Yes, you're absolutely right, Mr. Angus. We're seeing investments go other places, and Canada needs its place there. We need to be part of those supply chains. We need to be building the kinds of things that are going to be part of a net-zero economy. We need to be decarbonizing existing good jobs in the areas of certain strengths that we have. I'm thinking, for example, of steelmaking. We have some of the best steelworkers in the entire world, and we can produce low-carbon steels. This committee is not only studying electricity; there needs to be a reliable low-carbon electricity supply so that we can decarbonize steelmaking.
To go back to where you began, though, I'll ask this: Are we dealing with this with the urgency that's needed? No. This is something that we've been calling for for a long time. Workers have been calling for it for a long time because we're seeing the impacts of climate change, and workers want to know what the future looks like. They want to know that there is a future in their work, that their communities have the kinds of good jobs that are going to keep them there in the long term. They want to know that there's a future for their kids. Having a job in a low-carbon sector with the protection of a union card in their pocket—that's how we start to build that security.
