Human Resources committee  Thank you. I will answer in English. The intent is of course to increase completion rates. It's not always the case that apprentices are necessarily dropping out. Sometimes what happens is that they go on for a very long time and don't complete. There are a number of reasons tha

Human Resources committee  Yes. As you said, it varies quite a bit across the country, across different trades. We did some analysis of this, and given the other supports that there out there, our estimate was that access to up to $4,000 should be adequate to fill the gap they currently have between the su

Human Resources committee  We'll take it back.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. Actually, this will operate not quite like the Canada student loans program, where we do have an assessment process for the financial need of the student. On this one, the apprentices will be given a choice. We have looked at data that is available,

Human Resources committee  That is exactly right. This is to complement other supports that are already there. Data says that the supports that are out there don't quite meet the need of the apprentices. So this will be available to them to meet that gap that they currently have. When they complete their a

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. We intend to roll it out in January 2015. We still have to get approval for the new regulations in order to implement the loan program. Once the legislation has passed and the regulations have been approved, it will be made available in January 2015.

Human Resources committee  For the Canada apprentice loan program, actually, it's a new act, the apprentice loans act that has been introduced as part of the BIA, and it's about 11 pages long.

Human Resources committee  Yes, that is accurate. The Canada student loans program parameters are clear that the study program that the student is going to must be at least 12 weeks long. Apprenticeship programs usually are not that long. They vary between 4 and 12 weeks. So that was one issue. The other

Human Resources committee  There is no good data on the completion rates there, but usually when people talk about dropout rates of university students, it's in the 15% to 20% range—those who dropped out. Completion is not necessarily the opposite of dropout. Some people take longer to complete; some peopl

Human Resources committee  It could be.

Human Resources committee  Yes. This program, of course, will try to address the financial barriers that apprentices currently have because of which they can't quite go to the technical programs and complete them. In addition to that, hopefully it will also work as a signal that the government is trying to

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here today to discuss the work that is currently under way with respect to the Canada apprentice loan program. In the 2013 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada committed to ensure that Canadians are aware o