You have asked several questions. On the positive side, the federal government provides transfer payments to provincial governments and generally allows them some flexibility in terms of allocating the funds to priority areas.
With respect to labour force training, older workers are one targeted group, along with others, for example, workers who have been unemployed for some time, new labour force entrants and new immigrants. How do we determine if the government is spending the money well in a particular sector? Pursuant to the transfer agreement, the provincial government undertakes to allocate the funds to labour force training, including training for persons with disabilities, new entrants, and so forth.
To my knowledge, there is no specific target as such for these categories of workers or individuals. Indeed, the funding is earmarked for labour force training in general, and this includes the agreement respecting criteria. Therefore, it is impossible to say for certain if older workers receive a specific share of the contributions. We trust that the Quebec government will spend the money on labour force training. As for whether a specific amount of money is earmarked for older workers, that is a question for the Quebec government to answer. I know that funding is allocated differently, according to the regions and their respective needs.
As for when a worker is considered to be an older, or senior worker, as a rule there is no set criteria, but unfortunately, after the age of 50, a worker is often considered to be an older worker. I haven't yet reached that milestone, but sometimes I feel quite old, especially when we are working on a budget to be tabled lord knows when.
You also spoke about immigration. That is a very unique case. There is a very special and very generous agreement in place between the federal government and the Government of Quebec respecting immigration. Transfers for immigration continue to increase, regardless of the number of immigrants who choose to settle in Quebec or where they are from. Worst case scenario, federal funding for immigration will remain constant. However, funding levels never decrease, but rather tend to increase steadily.
Recently, the newspapers reported that the Quebec government spent a considerable amount of its own money on immigration. The fact remains, however, that it also spends money that it receives from the federal government. It is very difficult to ascertain how much of its own money its spends over an above the federal funds it receives, given that the agreement was signed almost 20 years ago.