I think these projects present an incredible opportunity for the federal government to take leadership in building the workforce of our future. We know the labour shortage is going to cause an acute strain on our industry in the next 10 years, as the baby boom generation ages out of the workforce. This is a great opportunity for the federal government to embed apprenticeship minimum requirements into these nation-building projects so that we can establish a strong pipeline for the next generation to enter the workforce.
When employers call the hiring hall at the union and say they want five workers for their project, they're asking for journeypersons, because they are the ones who have completed their apprenticeship. They have the training, experience and expertise. However, if you have apprentices who are sitting at home and not able to get that experience, when those journeypersons retire, the next generation is not ready to work on those projects. They don't have the skills they need, and we need to invest in them. To build in 10% to 15% partnership minimum requirements on these nation-building projects, just as the Biden administration did in the United States under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, is a step in the right direction, I think, for the federal government on these projects.
I think it goes off my friend Mr. Schumann's point here on working in partnership with the unions, potentially through memorandums of understanding or even just building prevailing wage provisions into these agreements.
It's something the federal government did in 2024 under the clean economy investment tax credits, and I think that model should be replicated here.