Thank you so much, Chair.
I want to thank all of our witnesses for their comments.
As our committee evaluates the government's response to this health crisis, I would argue that it's very important we not only look at the immediate needs, but we also look at the long-term impact of this crisis. The economic fallout of this pandemic is, and we know will be, significant. It is changing the job market, and some of those changes may become permanent, as we know. This will certainly have a significant impact on students, graduates and young Canadians who are entering or near entering the job market.
In the previous Parliament, the HUMA committee studied experiential learning and how valuable it was in helping students integrate into the workforce. I want to make note that some of the government's responses for students were tied to work and to volunteer opportunities, but those programs have been slow to roll out. Unfortunately, the reality is that those opportunities to connect students to the workforce are largely just not there.
My first question is for Emma Bienvenu.
You wrote an article called “7 Predictions for a Post-Coronavirus World”. In it you talked about a move towards automation, that a lot of companies will transition existing jobs to automated jobs and that those remotely capable jobs might leave the country. What impact do you think a move towards automation would have on the job market? In particular, how does this change the job market landscape for students and graduates?