Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
Mr. Smillie, the last time you were here, I did hear you. I discussed with some of my colleagues and my government mobility across our borders with the U.S. I also was in the U.S. talking with some congressmen about this. They were quite interested and weren't aware of it.
There are border negotiations going on. In part they concern the mobility of labour across our borders. An area in which your organization could help is in pushing on the other side of the border. I think we're doing our part as a government here in Canada. We may not be seeing enough support among those we're talking with.
That's just one observation.
I agree with your comment that there's not enough being done; we have a big problem here. But there have been some great successes, and we've heard so in this committee, in training of aboriginals in the mining sector in Saskatchewan and in the diamond mining in the Northwest Territories.
There have been some great successes with good policy. It's not just a website by the department; there have been some good things done by the government on the need for skills training. But it is such a monumental challenge that we're facing that we have to look at better and more innovative ways.
I mentioned a couple of days ago to our witnesses that the average age of workers who are entering apprenticeships is 26. We need to get people before age 26. One of the innovative things happening in my constituency in the Okanagan involves the Okanagan College's Salmon Arm campus. The trades association and the school district are working together, taking students out of grade 12 and putting them on a project. They build a house right from the foundation. They do the plumbing; they do the electrical; they get a little bit of everything. This has been going on for 10 years. The first ones to complete the first year got their first year of apprenticeship, but also they had six offers of jobs in Vancouver—and I live in the Okanagan. So it's a great program.
My question to you is: is your organization working with those institutions to try to capture the students? One thing we find is that the biggest challenge is that the education system is painting a picture suggesting that you have to go to university to be successful in life. I'm a certified journeyman carpenter, and I can tell you—not that I've done a lot of it—that it's a very rewarding area to work in. In certain situations it can be very lucrative, too.