Thank you very much, Mr. Hawn.
Absolutely there were a lot of great take-aways. We were in Germany. I think everybody acknowledges that they have far and away the best, most integrated, structured, historical, and institutionalized approach to apprenticeships. Mind you, that extends well beyond the fields we have apprenticeships in. In Germany there are 350 occupations with apprenticeships. It's a much larger capture.
In Canada 77% of apprentices are actually employed in a small or medium-sized firm. Our small businesses struggle with hiring an apprentice and being able to keep them employed. The apprentice may have to be let go, and so on. In Germany they find a way to create consortia of small firms to help with that. That's a very useful approach. As I said, they have a lot of structure and buy-in across employers, educators, governments, and unions. They're all together at the table. That would take a really dedicated leadership approach to achieve in Canada.