I'll answer both ways on this.
The university has done a phenomenal job here in Newfoundland. It has one of the lowest tuition rates in the country. It has served to attract both international students and students from across the country. The trick is keeping them here and mentoring them.
We have what is called the connector program, which we've been doing off the side of our desk for a while. It is just to introduce people. It tends to be a lot of international students who come through that program. It introduces them to business people and sectors or areas where they want to work. We've had about 60 people come through. We're only supposed to set up connections, but 20 of them have become employed. We are hoping to get that program funded through the LMDA and for that money to come through. That sort of program has worked with phenomenal success in Halifax and in Prince Edward Island.
We need to come up with ways to help integrate the local community with the graduate students who are coming through.
As I said, the immigration program tends to be express entry, and the point systems tend to go toward skilled labour. One of the things we have advocated for is similar to what happens if an individual, say, speaks French; he gets into Canada right away. In the same way, if you indicated you'd like to go to a rural or remote part of Canada, be it northern Ontario or Saskatchewan or Newfoundland and Labrador, you should get points for that as well. We encourage medical doctors and the like to go to rural parts of Canada. Why can't we do that with our immigration program? There are ways to do that.
You're right about the challenges facing this province from the aging demographic. That's why one of our biggest concerns is with respect to the level of debt that this province and this country have. We have a huge geography. There are huge levels of personal debt. The aging demographic means more demands on health care. We have a tsunami coming our way, and if we don't get our debt under control, we won't be able to survive any of the challenges that come our way.