It's nice to see you, too.
I have a minute, so I just want to give you a very brief message, because I think you have a leadership role to play in this. As a former cabinet minister and a privy councillor, you know we employ 263,000 people, and 70,000 of those are eligible for retirement in the next three years. We currently are hiring 10,000 to 12,000 new public servants a year, and over the next 10 years we'll hire over 100,000 public servants.
General Motors in Canada employs about 10,000 people. In other words, we are hiring 10 General Motors in the next decade. This is a huge opportunity for young Canadians, for new Canadians, to join a vibrant workforce.
My message to you is that you and your university administration should communicate to your governing body that there is a huge need in the Government of Canada for bilingual graduates. And we encourage the University of British Columbia, as one of the largest universities, to play a leadership role in ensuring that we meet those requirements.