We at the CCA couldn't agree more. That is in part why we're asking for an extension to the knowledge infrastructure program, which is trying to address the capacity crunch that many of our colleges have. The biggest problem a lot of the marginally employed face is that when they turn to the college system, they're told it's going to be about three years for them to get into their program. Anyone who has to wait three years to get into a college program is not going to wait, and they fall through the cracks and disappear off the radar.
I know the Association of Canadian Community Colleges was here before us, but they estimate they need about $7.4 billion of additional investment just to get their capacity up to what it needs to be to address these current shortages we're facing in Canada, let alone the shortfall we anticipate we're going to be facing in our economy in about five to seven years. So something has to be done.
I recognize everyone is coming here with recommendations, and they're all worthy recommendations, but this is something that is far too important to the future of our economy to just be ignored. We really need to do something at this point to address skill shortages or we are going to see labour costs go through the roof; we are going to see scarcity of labour in the next 10 to 15 years. This has to be addressed.