Thank you very much for being here today. This is a subject that's near and dear to a lot of us.
On Tuesday, when the minister was here, we talked about the Canada summer jobs program. We talked about how the goal was to try to almost double the number of jobs that were held. I know that in my riding in the first year we didn't have a lot of uptake, because it was always closed to small business. In the second year, we went out and actually called about 500 businesses. We encouraged them to apply. As a result, there were a lot more jobs, to the tune of almost 100,000 jobs, because we created an awareness of it, which is something that is critically important.
I have two questions on that aspect. Is there a way that we can continue to increase the number of youth who are available and can get Canada summer jobs, but more in line with their.... How do we get them to apply for those jobs or get employers to actually zone in on what their backgrounds are? I'm not referring to somebody standing at a gate and saying “Here's a ticket” or “Here, I'll make you a cup of coffee”; I'm talking about nurses, for instance, who can work as nutritionists or care aides, so that they can connect their summer job with the skill they are studying. I'm finding that this is a bit of a challenge. We're not making those connections. Is there anything you can say to that?