Thank you very much, Chair. Through you, I'd like to welcome all four of our panellists today. It's always nice to see some east coasters in the house.
I have questions for all of you, but I'd like to start with Mr. Nighbor.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nighbor. We just talked with the colleague across about how we can make natural resources a viable sector for our youth. It reminds me a lot of our forestry and what goes on in my riding of South Shore—St. Margarets, where I have a major industry employer in the area. I want to look at the role the private sector has and its leadership on how we engage youth and tell them this is a viable industry.
My question to you is this: Private sector leadership is vital to tackling youth employment. From your perspective, Mr. Nighbor, what makes federal partnerships, whether through wage subsidy programs or research internships, effective in encouraging employers to hire and mentor youth?
I look at that in a co-op program where I'm from in which they've had a lot of people who have done co-op programs with the local employer and have gone on to actually work for them over the decades.