Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Government Operations committee  Unfortunately, Mr. Johns, I don't have a specific example. My team would. If there's one that exists, my deans and our curriculum folks would interact with them on a regular basis. I simply don't have those kinds of relationships, but I can find out for you.

Government Operations committee  That's a great question. Again, with the federal-provincial kind of jurisdictional responsibility for education, the federal government over the years has been tremendously supportive in two big areas. One is infrastructure. To provide training in the area of shipbuilding is a very expensive endeavour.

Government Operations committee  At our institution, I would say it's good. We've had a great run for the past number of years to update our infrastructure. We're in good shape. It is getting shorter and shorter in terms of the runway. The second area in which we've benefited tremendously is in research. The federal government has a role in funding research.

Government Operations committee  Again, it would be in applied research and the opportunity for students to engage in research in terms of metals, in terms of 3-D printing, in terms of new techniques and in terms of simulation. Those are so critically important to help our students move forward. For example, it's amazing the technology available right now in welding simulation.

Government Operations committee  The first challenge, I think, was the public narrative of the shipbuilding industry. To say it was a dying industry in Atlantic Canada would be an understatement. It was an industry that people thought that, if they did pursue a career in it, it would be short-lived. It would not be one in which they could spend a long period of time.

Government Operations committee  That's a great question. The answer is yes, and not only in this sector but in other sectors. As you can well imagine, in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada, the forestry sector, for example, is a sector in which we have acute workforce shortages. At the same time, we have too many people sitting on the sidelines.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. We're finding that many of our industry partners are wanting to make the change. They want their places of work to be more inclusive, to be more diverse and to welcome and embrace diversity in a much different way. They want that to happen for two reasons.

Government Operations committee  Right.

Government Operations committee  The desire to pivot and support is where it begins. We are fully committed to that. If there's any institution, sir, in your riding that we could possibly share with and help, we'd be more than happy to do that. One of the keys to all of this—and I don't think it's going to be a surprise to anybody—is the importance of communication, going into the community and deeply listening to what the barriers are.

Government Operations committee  I don't have at my fingertips right now a measure for an economic impact measured as per GDP. I do want to stress that there's actually a third stream too, which is individuals who have pursued our core programming in the trades and other areas and have gone on to work with Irving.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Johns, thank you for such a great question. There are a number. Let's begin with financial. The cost of our programming is watched very closely to make sure that our tuition is kept as low as possible, but those financial barriers are still there, so we want to make sure that we're able to provide assistance when it comes to tuition.

Government Operations committee  I know Dr. Nilson well. In fact, I worked with him at Acadia University back in the day, and he's been a mentor of mine. Towards that end, we offer exactly the same option at NSCC. If an individual has been in care, they can come to NSCC with no tuition being owed to us. Yes, again, there's absolutely an economic barrier.

Government Operations committee  We have a number of different program streams. In the stream of the pathways cohort, we've had 65 to date. In other streams, we've had close to 300 trained.

Government Operations committee  Yes.