Thank you for the question, Mr. Ste-Marie.
I will start and I will let my colleague complete my answer.
In terms of the labour shortage, it's important to understand that a number of levers must be moved at the same time. Often, it can be more helpful to refer to just one lever when speaking to the public. But it would be a mistake not to use all the levers at our disposal.
One of those levers, of course, is immigration. We are of the same mind as the federal government on the issue, but a little less so with the Quebec government. Actually, we feel that immigration thresholds are artificially low in Quebec.
Another issue is retraining the workforce. Some people want to go from one industry to another in order to help with certain areas of activity. We have to find a quick way to provide the training.
We also need to keep experienced workers in the workforce. People often say to me that they want to retire and do not necessarily want to work five days a week. My answer is that, if decent tax measures were in place, a 66 year-old could decide to keep working in a business for one day a week, per example. That day is the one that the business owner needs to rest, to take care of his family and to maintain a level of mental health.
The issue of innovation also needs to be addressed. How can we create conditions in Canada to encourage investment in innovation? Clearly, not every business is going to buy new machinery tomorrow morning in order to increase its productivity. However, if proper measures were in place, businesses could have access to outside markets if they wanted and acquire tools that would increase their productivity.
If we work on all those issues at the same time either at provincial, federal or even municipal level, we can change things. I hear a lot of people saying that the labour shortage problem will last from 10 to 12 years. I really want to tell them that we have to stop talking and do something about it, so that it only lasts seven or eight years instead of ten.