Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses who are present with us today, particularly the Commissioner. Thank you very much, and welcome to your very first testimony at the public accounts committee.
I had the opportunity to look at the report. I want to ask questions related to three portions of it: lessons 2, 7 and 8. To begin my questioning, I'd like to begin with lesson 2.
In this report, it suggests that our high reliance on, and abundance of, natural resources poses an interesting kind of irony and problem for Canada. We have this tremendous resource capability, like we do in my home province of Alberta. Through that, we've been able to invest in our economy and infrastructure. On page 15, you can see that the sector, to date, still employs a huge number of people—some 422,000 people in 2019 and, and particularly important to me, 10,000 indigenous people.
How can the federal government identify, and assist communities and workers most affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy? By identifying these workers, what kind of assistance will be required to ensure we can have a good transition to protect workers at the forefront, Mr. Commissioner.