Thank you for that.
I come from northern Ontario and I have lived through a number of unjust transitions. We lost every single silver mining job in a year in our community. We lost the iron economy in our region in a year, with 4,000 workers gone in Elliot Lake. When those transitions happened, there was no place for those workers to go. The training didn't begin until all the jobs were lost, and it was a disaster, no matter what they said. They hired a lot of consultants.
This is a different situation. It's much more complex. There are a lot more workers upstream, downstream and in construction. I see, though, that right now in clean tech there are 430,000 jobs. Calgary Economic Development suggests there could be 639,200 jobs if—and it's a big if—government invests.
The issue here is the need for this transition and putting investments on the ground so workers can transition into better-paying jobs now. That would send a really clear signal to workers, to regions and to economic development.
I'm concerned that my Liberal colleague, who is the lead on this, doesn't know where these jobs are. That might send a pretty unsure signal to me.
Mr. McGowan, how important is it for the government to start working right now on a plan to start investing in the clean tech opportunities so that we do not see that lag for workers?