Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank our witnesses for having come here to discuss this very important issue. We do not have much time and I would like to put at least one question to each of you. I would ask you to take no more than one minute for your answers and I think that will be possible because my questions will be short.
My first question is for the Canadian Meat Council. The representative of the United Steelworkers talked about working conditions. Do you believe that working conditions are a factor in the hiring difficulties that employers face at this time?
I will ask all my questions now which will give you some time to think about your answers.
I see that your foreign workers come mainly from the Philippines, China and Salvador, where salaries are low.
My second question is about persons with disabilities. The problem that you have explained is well-known. I have been active in this field for more than thirty years and I have kept abreast of developments. Your finding is the same as mine, which is that it is difficult to match exactly work requirements with the problems faced by persons with disabilities.
However, is this not a case where employers are reluctant to create jobs for those persons? I believe that this shows some lack of will because, if not, it would be possible to resolve this matter. I always come to the same conclusion.
My next question is for the representatives of the Canadian Dental Association. I see that hiring is not an issue for you in Canada generally, except that there are some difficulties in rural areas. You would like to resolve this problem by providing more financial support to training aimed at people who want to live in rural areas.
Do you not think that a better solution would be to ensure a better regional allocation of dental professionals? Do you understand my question?