Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that this is something important. Mr. Dorval, your experience with the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail is very revealing. In my opinion, we can learn a lot from it.
I would like to know your opinion on training. Mr. Blakely also raised this point. We cannot train everybody. I will give you two examples, which probably involve your members. Let us take the example of Whirlpool, in Rivière-du-Loup, the former Bélanger plant that shut its doors four years ago. Three hundred and fifty people worked there. More than 20% of the workforce was over 55 years of age. They had worked there for 35, 40 or 45 years. They had been trained, but there were no longer any jobs for them.
It is the same for the shoe plant in Charlesbourg, which shut down three years ago. The workforce was almost exclusively women. All the women over 55 years of age, who had always worked in the shoe industry, no longer have any job opportunities. A lot of women received training, but there are no more jobs.
One thing requires some analysis and an answer. Are these people supposed to wait until they are 65 without any income, or, as part of your joint reflection process, have you come up with any ways to compensate for the government's lack of initiative?