Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Tarr. Thank you for being here with us for this meeting on youth employment in Canada.
Before I begin, I'd like to say that I was a refrigeration engineer by trade, similar to my colleague who was an electrician by trade. I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words to my former colleagues, whom I might work with again someday. This is for the men and women who work in a skilled trade in construction: Every day, using your hands, intelligence, passion and dedication, you build and repair, helping our society move forward, and for that, I thank you immensely.
Mr. Tarr, you talked about the importance of labour mobility. On that point, the federal government funds the red seal program, which supports the adoption of common interprovincial standards for tradespeople skills through tax measures, and facilitates labour mobility. Would greater harmonization between the federal and provincial systems help youth find jobs faster? How would that type of harmonization fit in your idea of a national strategy for trades?