As Ms. Benoît said, we're currently able to build an aircraft from A to Z, both here and elsewhere in Canada. So we have mechanics who maintain the aircraft and build engines, assembly line workers who assemble the aircraft and people who work on the avionic suites you see inside the aircraft. We also have engineers in the offices.
So jobs in the aeronautics field are highly varied. These are middle-class people, and they represent a lot of taxes that are paid to the government to fund our social programs and so on.
Our challenge is the labour shortage. There weren't enough people in school before the pandemic. Most training has now stopped, and plant employees are being laid off. As I explained earlier, many people with more seniority are retiring. Consequently, there's a lack of knowledge transfer within businesses.
The academic training of a licensed mechanic may take up to four years. Consequently, there'll be a void if our training programs and talent aren't supported since many people will be retiring and there won't be enough people to do the work. Some major customers and other businesses won't want to invest here any more if we can't demonstrate that the industry is being supported, that we will continue to train people and that we will meet future demand from employers.