Human Resources committee  It's a good question, one I expected to get. I'm going to borrow from what Jill was saying about how, if you set targets and try to force people into certain holes, they're probably not going to be good fits. I think in all these cases it is much better to leave companies to hire the people, to fit them into the right spots, so the chances of success and growth and the opportunities are there.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, and good afternoon. Thanks for having me back again. I am pleased to be here today on behalf of the 10,000 members of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters to discuss Canada's labour market and explore employment opportunities for people with disabilities. By way of background, more than 85% of CME members are small and medium-sized enterprises representing every industrial sector, every export sector, and from all regions of the country.

Human Resources committee  I'll begin with the comparison between Germany and Canada, just as a starting point. Our education systems and our linkages between employers, unions, government, and the education system are fundamentally different. The way unions and industry work together to kind of set the agenda with local educators makes a huge difference in terms of how students go through the system.

Human Resources committee  Rather than picking out any one company.... You kind of hit a good point, though, in the conversation. The companies that are having successes tend to be the ones that are larger and have a lot more resources. The companies that struggle in terms of bringing in apprentices, bringing in youth, and keeping them for the long term are typically the smaller companies with a lot less resources.

Human Resources committee  I know it is a difficult thing, obviously. You're limited by the Constitution and a whole bunch of other political realities, but there are a couple of things you could do. First, HRSDC plays a significant role in terms of labour market issues across Canada and informing people about what's going on.

Human Resources committee  That's a tough one. There probably are things that can be done through groups like CME and other associations that represent a broad base of industry, surveying our members and things like that. I'm not sure what other sources of information StatCan and HRSDC and other places collect information from, what they have, what's available in terms of analysis of what maybe has changed over the last couple of years and what will be changing.

Human Resources committee  It's the same thing if you look at some of the mine development operations in Newfoundland and Labrador. There's exactly the same problem. This isn't isolated, certainly, to Alberta or the Fort McMurray area; it's a problem right across the country. The other problem with that, which we're certainly seeing in Alberta, is that you get high school students who are coming out at 17 and 18 years of age with the promise of a job earning $80,000 or $90,000 or more a year.

Human Resources committee  We're working, obviously, with the provincial government to increase the awareness of the absolute necessity of reinstituting these things in Ontario, but again, this isn't just an Ontario problem; it's right across the country. We're also trying to work with them to introduce programs like the ones we're running in Manitoba and in Quebec, where the technical trades training can take place inside the industrial complex of the province itself, but it has to be done in conjunction with the education system or it doesn't work.

Human Resources committee  I can't answer on behalf of any one company, but I'll tell you about a couple of examples. The local businesses and local industry right across the country are very interested in working with the schools, whether it's at the high school level or any other level of education. Wherever they can, they do work with them, but there is a real disconnect, either as a result of provincial education bodies or regional education bodies, or as a result of the universities and colleges trying to set themselves a global benchmark instead of trying to help the local industries.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of Parliament, for inviting the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters here to discuss these issues. The issues around youth engagement in the workforce as a whole, apprenticeship programs, and overall skills shortages are major issues for Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and our 10,000 member companies across Canada.

Human Resources committee  I'm not sure what I'm allowed to answer here either—

Human Resources committee  Let me just.... I come from northeastern Ontario, from a logging community that relies a lot on seasonal workers. There's a certain skill set to logging. Everyone probably thinks it's very low-skilled, but there's a certain skill set to logging, just like there would be for fishing or anything else.

Human Resources committee  I won't comment on that specifically, but I'd like to add to that to say that I don't think the biggest challenge you have is necessarily encouraging people in Alberta to work. I think your labour market participation is probably higher in Alberta than it is anywhere else in Canada.

Human Resources committee  Our membership, companies such as Bombardier, BRP, Molson, and others in Quebec would spend well above the 1% threshold anyway, so it's not a direct business impact. The problem I have is the prescriptive nature that these regulations tend to come with. It doesn't allow for any flexibility in any different business setting.

Human Resources committee  That's good enough for me, for the time.