Quite succinctly, the labour market agreements were developed, in part, as a specific recognition that the LMDAs and EI don't work particularly well in Ontario. Everyone here is aware of the challenges of EI reform. In the 2000s there was a recognition that, rather than try to change all of the LMDA funding, a different program ought be created to be available to workers not eligible for EI. A lot more of those were in Ontario, and those were long-term structural unemployed and new entrants to the labour market. Ontario has more young people and immigrants entering the labour market who are outside the EI system.
So the main recommendation—we could certainly talk about this in more detail—is to grow the labour market agreement working federally and provincially with federal transfer style agreements that all provinces could use with the federal government and with employers to target their own particular needs rather than have this set of criteria that really is 20, 30, 40 years old that says you can only get access to the training programs if you are eligible for EI or if you just recently exhausted your EI, which leaves a huge swath of the workforce, whom I think everyone is trying to better train.
In terms of the specific changes in 1996 allocation formula, again I don't have to tell anyone here that changing allocation formulas that provide more funds or less funds to different provinces is always challenging. But I think as a matter of principle we have to say that the 1996 formula has to be updated. It has to be more in line with the contributions made by provinces, or it has to be per capita, or it has to be really needs-based, but right now tying it to changes from 1996 makes no sense.