Public Accounts committee  Great, and thanks for that question. First off, I would certainly say that, as I mentioned earlier, we're really experiencing across the country labour and skills shortages, which are certainly more acute in some areas than others. We also recognize that further developing and further preparing Canadians to take jobs in the skilled trades is one of the key areas for Canada in terms of being able to meet our labour market needs.

Public Accounts committee  To [Technical difficulty—Editor] jump in there. As we mentioned before, we agree with the recommendations by the commissioner and, with respect to some of the governance, we, along with NRCan, are establishing a committee under the structure of the DMs, a director-level committee that will be established this month.

Public Accounts committee  There are a couple of pieces to that. I can certainly speak to the role of ESDC and the sort of efforts we are undertaking with respect skills and employment training for diversity groups. We recognize that there are additional barriers to the full participation of under-represented Canadians.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning to you and members of the committee. I'd like to begin by acknowledging that I'm joining you today from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today and for this opportunity to discuss the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development's Report on Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy.

Environment committee  Thanks for that question as well. I might ask Chris Bates to jump in a bit to speak to those issues of labour mobility.

Environment committee  Thanks for the question. There are a couple of things. It's important to recognize the existing programs that are in place in terms of providing support to workers who are affected. That includes things such as the employment insurance program. There have already been changes introduced, some of these during the pandemic, to help increase access to the program.

Natural Resources committee  I didn't particularly have a response on what has been learned to date. I was just going to say that in terms of supporting workers I think that's really the focus we have, being able to provide them with training, with re-skilling, to be able to take on the new jobs or to adapt to the new jobs in the cleaner economy.

Natural Resources committee  Thanks for that question. I'm going to turn to Chris to see if he can add anything else on that.

Natural Resources committee  Chris, I don't know if you're able to jump in there in terms of some of the sectors that are growing or projected to grow the most over the next period of time.

Natural Resources committee  Thanks for the question. I wonder, Chris, if you could help out in terms of responding. I'm thinking about some of the other work that's going on with unions as well, in terms of preparing workers.

Natural Resources committee  Sure. Thanks for the question. First of all, I would just mention that of course there are some existing programs in place that we would be looking at making use of and leveraging to support workers who would be affected through just transition, but we're also taking a look at exactly those programs—the sectoral workforce solutions program and the clean jobs training centre.

Natural Resources committee  Thanks for the question. I'm just looking at Chris here. I'm wondering if he wants to jump in on that.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Chair. I'm Andrew Brown, senior assistant deputy minister for the skills and employment branch at Employment and Social Development Canada. I'd like to begin by acknowledging that I'm participating in today's committee meeting from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Natural Resources committee  I will be giving the opening statement for ESDC, but I believe my colleague from NRCan will be starting off today.

Human Resources committee  There are some investments through what's known as the union training and innovation program, and it's also related to apprenticeships. Starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year, it's to support more apprenticeship opportunities and partnerships in the Red Seal trades. I speak to this, because the new investments in the union training and innovation program will continue to target greater representation and participation from women, indigenous people, newcomers, persons with disabilities, and Black and racialized communities.