I have one specific question that I should have asked in my first round. Thank you for the chance to get it on the record.
One of the problems with the apprenticeship system is keeping apprentices, for the reason you mentioned. With my own apprenticeship, it took me seven years to get my carpenter's ticket. Those years of 1980 to 1987 were rough years.
One of the problems with our EI system is that when you go to school and you're released from your job to do your six weeks at community college, you get the two-week waiting period on EI. I had a family and kids by then. A lot of them say they can't interrupt their income for two weeks, so they pass on their school component. It might be another year before it comes up, or they might be frozen in second year, or they might drop out altogether.
Is it the position of the building and construction trades department of the AFL-CIO that there should be no waiting period in the community college component when you go on EI as an apprentice?