One thing that has struck me is the tendency in Canada to think that a post-secondary education means a university education rather than a community college education. I think we have, to a degree, created a culture in this country that tends to downplay the trades as a place where there are tremendous prospects for work. I think we've created that tendency by tending to compare the average earnings of university graduates with the average earnings of community college graduates, and on average, they are higher for university graduates. We lose the enormous range of outcomes that you see when you look at specific degree programs or training programs. In our concern about the knowledge-based economy of the mid-nineties, I think we've also, in a sense, forgotten how many opportunities there are to make things with your hands, or do things with your hands.
So I think a cultural change is necessary. Although I can't cite the statistics by memory, for the obvious reasons of middle age, the number of young Canadians who think they need to go to university is vastly out of proportion with our projections of the number of jobs that, strictly speaking, will require a university education. I think we do need a cultural change, or we will potentially find ourselves with these ongoing shortages in these areas.
I might even add something with respect to the question pertaining to the Quebec workers.
Even in economics, there will always be jobs for people who haven't gone any further than high school. Sometimes I'm surprised to see that the number of jobs that simply require a high school education is increasing. However, that number may decline, since now a lot more have post-secondary diplomas.
So I believe the pressure will be on this labour market sector in the future. Unfortunately, it's too late for the older people who work in the textile industry. However, that kind of job should not be forgotten.