Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's a great honour to be in Manitoba this morning.
I thank our colleague Ms. Ashton for her hospitality in her home province.
As we go across the country, some themes emerge everywhere we go. As Mr. Davidson just correctly identified, finding ways to achieve growth in this economy—inclusive growth, growth that maximizes the potential of Canada's economy but also of all Canadians—is certainly at the forefront of our challenges.
One of the key themes I heard.... I heard some very pertinent local things, and I was intrigued on the disaster financial assistance front, but I want to focus my section of questions on the issue of skills. Ms. Lane, I think you called it competencies and not certificates.
It has been a long time now since the federal government fundamentally devolved labour market training to the provinces and co-funded it. I'm sure there are lots of very pertinent measures in place to ensure that funds are spent in the manner in which they are intended.
What we hear all the time is that there are jobs with no takers, and there are people who are unemployed and have no reasonable prospect of finding a job with the competencies they have. This is very true in our immigrant and aboriginal communities, and it seems to be true throughout all sectors and across all regions of Canada, and certainly in the case of people with disabilities.
Mr. Chair, I would ask Ms. Rosales, Ms. Lane, Mr. Hicks, and Mr. Davidson to all comment briefly on where they think labour market training, and training generally, is falling down. What are the quick fixes that could be applied, and what are the more long-term fixes?