Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing.
Up until the last comment, I was very pleased to hear you speak, Mr. Laliberté, because you proposed a few solutions. The committee is trying to formulate measures regarding direct assistance and tax measures to be recommended to the Minister of Finance. Two other people have raised points that we have already heard.
My question is essentially the same one I will also ask of Mr. Myers and Mr. Lazar. It is certain that the challenge, if everyone is placed in the same basket... Even in Quebec, one cannot state that the entire manufacturing sector as a whole is in crisis. For example, the aerospace sector is not experiencing difficulty. We are looking for ways and solutions which will help the sectors that are in most need of aid over the next year. However, we have to earmark this assistance to a given industry or sector for more than a year. Otherwise, we will find ourselves with the same problem the year afterwards.
You talked about staff training. We can invest in training, but we will not see the results of this training for one or two years, depending on the type of training provided. I prefer the solution suggested by Mr. Lazar and Mr. Myers, that is to invest more money in R and D and provide businesses with refundable credits. This is a very positive measure.
What can we do immediately to help industries and businesses in need? People believe that the situation is uniform throughout Quebec, but thas is not true.
You mentioned that the markets will come back. I'm wondering which markets and what regions. Your sector is faced with challenges as well. I don't believe some of those markets will ever come back. You have to correct me if I'm wrong.
Mr. Myers, it's the same thing. I think you have a challenge where certain industries in central Canada are doing well and some are tied to the fact that we're doing quite well in the resource area. But as Mr. Laliberté said, I'm not so sure the solution is to take money from the resource area just because they have money and give it to the people who need money.
I'm looking to you guys for more concrete answers--something we can put on paper. You guys have the solutions. We've already addressed the R and D situation. With the accelerated CCA, I think the government has made one step forward.
You're here today because we're trying to conduct a study on direct assistance and measures. I haven't really heard that, other than building skills. I think that is going to be more of a long-term solution than a short-term solution.