Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning to the witnesses. Thank you for coming here today.
I'm the mother of three sons who are more techno-savvy than I will ever be, and I held out long enough with my VCR and found that if you wait long enough, you never have to learn how to program the thing, because the technology will change. So I'm kind of astounded that we don't have enough young people who are interested, or who have the skills to get into the ICT sector, because it seems that it is a sector that is fascinating and compelling and that our young people are very engaged in it.
I did hear you say that there were issues with the curriculum of the school system, and I assume that's something on which you're reaching out to the education sectors very early on in public school, and helping to influence university decisions. I was also interested to hear you say that even when there are people graduating with appropriate credentials, it's difficult to get a foot in the door and that our procurement programs may have a negative influence on helping our young people get started.
My question is twofold. How do we correct that procurement issue? That seems to be something that's fairly straightforward. And I guess the bigger question is that at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are losing manufacturing jobs—and I don't for a minute give up on the manufacturing sector, I think we have to really be concerned about that—how do we engage young people, especially disadvantaged young people, and not just inspire them, but help get them into a career that can be lucrative and rewarding and have a real future in the IT sector?