There is a program in my area, in La Pocatière—Rivière-du-Loup, that works very well in small towns. There are long-term development agreements between certain local businesses and local colleges—CEGEPs, as we call them in Quebec—for young people between 16 and 19 years of age. These agreements work very well because they are small scale agreements. For instance, if Bombardier works on the creation of a laser robot, the tests are carried out in part by CEGEP students who are studying computer science and IT technology.
This works very well where there is integration. In this case, young people benefit from the program, because they want to live in the region. In bigger centres, in companies like Research in Motion or university departments, would this type of small scale but very effective agreements be something that could be considered? Are there such programs already? Is enough being done? Could this be a possible solution?