Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the presenters.
I have a comment first. The guys from Goldcorp the other day said, we're “miners and not educators.” When they get somebody who comes to make an application, the key ingredient is what you folks are doing on the ground to prepare those workers so that they are successful. One of the unfortunate parts of the committee not being able to travel is that it would have been excellent to get on the ground and see what's taking place on the ground and why you guys are experiencing the success.
The other thing I wanted to comment on, Jeanette, is the comment you made that it's not being equal to everybody. That's important. I know even Nova Scotia Community College has gone to a self-directed approach to teaching where you're fair with people, but you're not the same. You're not just sort of teaching en masse. I think that's where we have success.
Laurie, you referenced something a couple of times. We saw some of the barriers and people have shared some of the barriers: financial, public school preparation, and that kind of stuff. But you had talked about fighting the assumptions. You made that comment three times in your presentation about the assumptions, and that would be I think an extrinsic assumption. Could you comment on that and how you've come about addressing it?
Ms. Hill, you talked about changing the thinking.
Are you guys linked up there?