Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hello to the witnesses. It's really important testimony today. That goes without saying.
Just over my right shoulder—I don't know if you can see—there's a miner's hat and a miner's lantern. My dad was in charge of mine rescue for the Cape Breton mines for years. I used to pal around with him quite a lot when I was a young man. The amount of effort that went into the training, the follow-up training and the auditing in terms of mine rescue.... For those who don't know, for the men who would go down for a crisis or recovery, or to assist someone in some way, there was rigorous training—it wasn't a one-off—and it was consistently followed up with auditing.
A couple of things come to mind, and MP Lawrence touched upon them. So far in the testimony, from a variety of sources, we've heard about a lack of training, follow-up training and enforcement, as well as a lack of accountability because of the lack of enforcement and training.
I want to start with Mr. Hall and then go to Mr. Ludwig and Ms. Horlings for a second. Looking at going forward on recommendations, I want to make sure that we get the right terminology from you in terms of the recommendations. I'm hearing that we need more investment in enforcement, training and accountability; more audits; and more inspections. They're not the sole cure, but they are part of the process in trying to make things better.
I'm also hearing—and not just in this testimony—about a national database. I want to ask you this question. I'm hearing about more federal involvement in the management of training and the follow-up of training, because it is a joint enterprise. The province does certain things and we do certain things. Maybe we could start there, Mr. Hall, because I want to see the next generation of Halls on the road. Mr. Ludwig, I don't want to see you go out of business. Ms. Horlings, I want to see you keep doing what you're doing.
Mr. Hall, going to you, we could start with training, enforcement and recommendations, and on the national database and more federal involvement in what is traditionally provincial territory.