Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here, gentlemen. We appreciate it.
It is important to always keep in mind that we are encroaching somewhat on provincial jurisdiction here. Nevertheless, I am going to take advantage of your expertise to explore some rather glaring problems further. There is a mining boom happening, especially in the northern parts of the country, including northern Quebec and the territories. There are a lot of jobs, and they are often well-paid. Still, the whole situation gives rise to many issues, not the least of which is human resources.
In some regions, we see one thing happening, and in others, we see the exact opposite phenomenon. For example, my colleague, Mr. Cleary, was telling me that certain industries in the southern part of his province had a very high unemployment rate, despite the boom up north and the resulting labour shortage there. In my area, the much talked about Plan Nord is beginning to bear fruit, and we have the opposite problem. In some sectors, all the young people who were trained on the south shore of the St. Lawrence are heading north where they make salaries that secondary and tertiary processing companies on the south shore cannot match.
Sometimes a young person who has just completed a cooking program will not join the tourism food service industry because they can make two-and-a-half times as much in a simple cafeteria job up north. Some industries are feeling a tremendous labour squeeze because young people are going north for work, despite needs at the local level. Other sectors are dealing with unemployment and do not yet feel the difference.
How can we come up with a labour plan tailored to the conditions of each rural area while meeting the development needs up north?