Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, each of you, for being here today and joining us and sharing this information, which is going to be helpful and useful to our committee as we come up with recommendations to the government on this very important issue.
I am the member of Parliament for West Nova. I know how important immigration is to not only our province but my region in particular, where we're seeing labour shortages. We're seeing out-migration of younger people, as alluded to earlier. I really appreciate the fact that you took the time today to come and share your thoughts with us.
I'd like to start with you, Mr. Fares, if I could. You mentioned that you co-chair the council on Nova Scotia Immigration. I know the good work that has already been undertaken, and I appreciate that very much. As alluded to a moment ago, there are good-news stories happening on immigration, in Nova Scotia in particular. You talked about employer engagement. I wonder if you could expand on that a little bit, especially now that we're seeing applications into the Atlantic immigration pilot project, and talk about why it's so important to engage employers and make sure that we're meeting the needs or fitting the needs of the labour force right across Nova Scotia.