Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, ministers.
Since I have been on this committee, I have never missed a single meeting. What troubles me is that Canada will experience a labour shortage in the next few years; we are talking 310,000 workers. I can appreciate that we need lawyers, doctors, dentists and the like, but we also need labourers—welders, mechanics, machinists, lineworkers and so forth. There is much development ahead in northern Quebec and western Canada.
I would like to hear your vision on labour mobility between provinces. For instance, we know that lineworkers or pipefitters wanting to work in Alberta need a seal. Could you intervene to shorten the process for people looking for work?
I have no objection to bringing in workers from outside our borders, but what is being done to help our young people, aboriginals and school dropouts? Assistance could be provided to young people who have dropped out of school. Do you have a plan and the funding it would take to help get them back to school, learn a trade and become productive members of society like everyone else?
Thank you.