Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being here with us.
Welcome, Mr. Bédard. You are the only one I had not met yet. My first question will in fact be for you.
I am going to talk about workers of 50 years or more, rather than those of 55 years or more. Indeed, as soon as the zero becomes a five, that seems to be very significant in the minds of people and employers.
When a plant or a mill closes, very often, the older employees—that is to say those of 50 or more—don't have the necessary skills to take on another type of job, and don't even have basic computer skills or literacy, and so forth.
Continuous training, including basic skills, provided within a business during a person's entire career could be one solution, if that person requests it, of course.
I would like to know how that could be done. Could the federal government do something in that regard? Do you have any thoughts on a possible cooperative effort involving the government, employers, workers and the unions? Do you have any suggestions to make in that regard?