Absolutely. Since 2004, youth employment centres have worked on meeting the challenges of youth entrepreneurship. In each youth employment centre, an outreach officer would be dedicated to youth entrepreneurship, with a mandate to develop entrepreneurial culture in Quebec—in communities and schools. After 14 years, we have noted that the desire to become an entrepreneur has increased tremendously. Interest has more than doubled in Quebec. In fact, roughly one in two young Quebeckers is interested in entrepreneurship.
There is a will, but desire does not necessarily translate into action. The entrepreneurship rate is lower. Today, we are focusing on providing young people with support. That is done a lot through the Créneau carrefour jeunesse program. Experiential entrepreneurship projects are carried out in secondary schools to make young people aware of those opportunities. I assume those projects are very brief.
All the studies we have show that about 20,000 businesses will not find a buyer in the next few years and will have to close. That is the challenge of business purchases. The solutions lie in young people, women and newcomers.