Oh, thank you.
First of all, gentlemen, thank you for being here.
I have too much on my plate to be able to get it all in during my five minutes, so I'll quickly make some points and maybe you can respond. Here are the key points from the notes I made.
Mr. Georgetti says that literacy is the biggest need. Mr. Schumann says that we need workers now. There's a whole lot of discussion about how we get down to doing this, and I think that's where we should go.
I love Mr. Georgetti's characterization that this is everybody's responsibility. I totally agree. As a former employer, having brought several carpenters through the apprenticeship program in my company, I know it behooves companies to absolutely put people through apprenticeship programs. If you don't, then you're not going to have the workers on your team to expand your business.
So it's everybody's responsibility. From my perspective of my world, having led the Ontario Home Builder's Association in the mid-nineties, I believe the small entrepreneurial and the large residential contractors do a huge program in terms of putting people into apprenticeships, because, frankly, it makes you money when you do it. So it's happening from an employer's point of view.
That leads me to my ultimate question here. I just want to make a point. I represent an aboriginal community called Six Nations in Brant. It has 12,000 members. We have given to them in the last three and a half years, since I've been the member of Parliament, over $6 million-plus, for 12,000 people, in retraining programs and training programs.
The one I'll highlight is called Pipe Dreams. Pipe Dreams is a partnership with the union in the Niagara area. It brings people into Brantford, into a training facility, and trains them on welding. This is just aboriginal people; no one else can be part of it at this point.
So there are things happening on the ground. This is where the partnerships need to come together and understand what's happening. Instead of talking all about the theory of it, let's get down to it.
I want to ask you, from your perspective, particularly the construction union, what are you doing to promote, partner, and community-build with community colleges with the actual trainers? What are you doing? Are you out there advertising, saying that there are jobs available and that you're a vehicle to get people into jobs? Are you working with community colleges on curriculum?
As well, are you breaking down the provincial barriers yourselves? The provincial barriers are huge. Do you know that an electrician in Ottawa cannot work across the border in Quebec, but a Quebec electrician can come into Ontario and work? That's because of the union blocking them coming in from Ontario to Quebec.
So I want to know what you're doing in terms of addressing the issues on the ground, daily.