I think there are two pieces here. One is the talent for the companies themselves to continue to produce and expand, the talent internally within Canada. There are really limited resources to push kids at a younger age in high school more towards STEM programs, science and math, so they can go into the technology arena. Technology doesn't mean that they're going to be sitting at a computer writing software. It could be marketing of technology or it could be finance. Technology is the enabling tool in our lives today, so better understanding of technology is important.
Then, have university programs. A lot of the universities are now using BTM, business technology management, as part of their curricula, and those graduates have a 90% hire rate today. Having kids coming out of the programs that our sector needs is very critical now.
There is no way the demand could be met internally, so we need to find a way to get the foreign talent into the country based on specific needs. They come into the country in three different ways: there are projects that are three to four months long, to get something done; there are people who could come in for two to three years for knowledge transfer; and then you have the permanent people through the normal immigration or permanent resident process. We need to attract talent into the country to meet all three dimensions. If we don't do that, we will not be able to compete on a global scale because people will go where they have the right conditions to work.