Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for appearing before us today and for giving us your thoughts. They're very valuable and important to us in this study.
I think in some of the documents you've given us there is an indication of the quantification of skill shortages that you're seeing in your industries. But if you haven't, I know that...for instance, in the executive summary of the brief from the Mining Industry Human Resources Council, the indication is that the cumulative gap you see over the next 10 years is 70,810 positions as a shortage in that area. I guess I'd ask the other two also--and perhaps it's in your documents, I haven't noticed it yet--if you could quantify for me what you're seeing in your areas.
Second, what are the top three measures the Government of Canada should be taking to address the skills shortage?
Third--and I'm sorry to give you a list of questions, but I'll start with this and see how we go through the seven minutes--what do you see as the role of basic literacy, for example, in terms of your industries? For instance, we're seeing more and more need for highly skilled workforces. You need people who have basic skills, the basic foundation, because simply reading the manuals can be more complicated these days for mechanics, and in all kinds of fields. One of the challenges we face in meeting the skills shortage, it seems to me, is how to move people from the margins of society, those who don't have strong literacy skills, up to a point where they can then work on becoming tradespeople or developing skills that can be useful in the kinds of industries you're talking about today.
Mr. Swinwood talked about the need for more people to be enrolled in post-secondary education, and I wonder if there are one or two key measures that you see the Government of Canada taking to assist that.
If that isn't enough, l'll have more later.