Thank you, Minister.
Second, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce released their “Ontario Economic Report 2017” this past February. It's a survey of all its members—small, medium, and large businesses in Ontario.
What they identified as the topmost concern of all members was “acquiring suitable staff”. They are finding difficulty in acquiring people qualified to join as their employees. On the other hand, when we were doing the manufacturing study here, the representatives of the universities association mentioned that their graduates were finding it difficult to get jobs.
On the one hand, then, we have the universities stating that their candidates are finding it difficult to get jobs, and on the other hand we have the businesses saying that they cannot get suitable staff. How can we use our funding power to make sure the universities align with, so that they can meet the requirements of, industry and businesses?