In Germany, to give you a concrete example, employers collectively spend 38 billion euros, over $50 billion Canadian, a year on apprenticeship programs alone. We asked every employer if they were concerned about poaching. That's why a lot of Canadian employers don't go to apprenticeship programs. They said it's not an issue as they all have a sense of responsibility. If they have the scale, like the mittelstand, medium-size businesses, or the big employers, they do it. They have a sense of social obligation.
We are concerned. According to the OECD, Canadian governments are at the top of the developed world in investing in skills development but Canadian private sector employers are toward the bottom of the developed world in these investments. According to the Conference Board, private sector investments in skills development declined by 40% in real inflation-adjusted terms between 1990 and 2010. This concerns me, which is why we are encouraging employers...if they're going to come to us demanding more temporary foreign workers, I'm going to continue to ask them what they are investing in training programs.