Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all three of you for being here. I've found this to be quite interesting.
This is an area that needs some attention, there's no two ways about it. I think we've done a fair bit, but there's more that we can do. Your input is very valuable in helping the committee.
I was actually on the telephone yesterday with a representative of the IBEW, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, about an apprentice situation with a constituent. The mother had called me because the son was finding it very difficult. He had completed all of the community college programming to be an apprentice as an electrician, but then he was having a difficulty with a placement. We were discussing why that was.
I am a member of Parliament from Mississauga, so this was the greater Toronto area. I was surprised to hear that there was a difficulty, because I keep hearing there's this skills shortage and people are needed. Then this mother calls me and she's very frustrated because her son is not getting an apprenticeship placement.
Is there that disconnect, or is that just a Toronto area thing, from your perspective and from what you know about? Is this a common theme across the country, where we are actually getting people to become, and want to become, apprentices, but there aren't the placements?
I actually had an excellent conversation with this guy in Toronto. The input and stuff was very helpful to me and to my constituent. However, I found that to be very weird, when I got that phone call, that there was no placement for this young person, a 24-year-old guy who had completed everything and was being told there was no room.
Is that a common problem, that we actually have more people who want to practise as apprentices than we actually have placements for? Is this a national issue, or is this just an issue in Toronto?