I think this committee has sort of set the stage to examine the issue in greater light.
In terms of a pilot program, our organization and our contractor partners out there would be absolutely willing to get as much information as possible. We talked a lot about getting information to young people. Something that I see we can do together with the government side is working through our sector council, getting information to high schools, getting information to the various parties that would be interested. Even though we're in a very serious economic time in our industry, we're still very, very busy, so the demand for skilled workers hasn't really dropped off yet. We're crossing our fingers that it won't. Generally, we'll be in a shortage position in the next five to ten years again. There was something that came out that said we need an additional 200,000 to 300,000 skilled trade workers in this country.
What do I see a pilot project looking like? The most important piece that I found in my preparation for today was that if we can expose people to the benefits of a career in the trades and they get an understanding of what the competencies are, then we can make sure we have a workforce down the road. There has been good work already on the government side so far, things like the apprenticeship and incentive grant. It has been totally awesome in terms of our industry. It encourages people to move along through their program. It ends the four-year apprentice program completed in 12 years; it assists with that kind of thing. It gives people the financial incentive to move along.
How do I see a pilot program? I see it linking with programs that have been successful to date but perhaps providing more information to the people who need it.