Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Gourde.
It allows me to make a further point about just how keen the Conseil du patronat du Québec is on the economic Francophonie.
To begin with, we signed a development agreement for the economic Francophonie with 29 other francophone areas around the world, including France and Brussels, of course, but also with countries in Africa, the Maghreb, and Morocco. We got several countries from North Africa, East Africa and southern Africa to come on board with the economic Francophonie, which is an economic leveraging mechanism that, as I mentioned in my presentation, resembles the Commonwealth, but for the Francophonie.
There are at the moment approximately 300 million francophones around the world. In 2060, the number of francophones will be over 500 million, with an average age of under 30 years. That, I'm sure you'll agree, represents enormous growth potential.
In Canada, we are facing demographic issues, particularly in Quebec.
There are people here from various parts of Canada, but in Quebec, we have an extremely serious problem, the curve for our aging population. In 2011, one of every six people were 65 years of age or older. In 2031, only a few years from now, it will be one in four. The labour shortages that we all know about will be amplified, in keeping with our demographic curve.
In what sectors can the potential of the Francophonie help us? Well, it can help us in various ways, in fields like information technology, video games, health care, the manufacturing industry, education, and health training. All of these sectors Mr. Gourde, have strong potential.
For example, we could forge strong and interesting ties with francophone countries whose population curve is younger than ours, to address training needs. Trainers in these countries could come here, and ours could go elsewhere. Thus there are societal challenges which, when linked to their younger demographic curve, could represent opportunities for us in Quebec and Canada. And our societal challenges resulting from our older demographic curve could represent opportunities for these countries.
There is real and extremely interesting growth potential. But something needs to be done about it, and that is what the Conseil du patronat intends to do. We have already made extremely strong commitments in terms of demographic growth and the economic Francophonie, and that's only the beginning. I'm convinced that the potential of the Francophonie is extremely important to all the technology sectors, whatever they may be, and in every region of Quebec, Mr. Gourde.