Human Resources committee  They're going to either industry or NGOs. It could be provincial or public service, but—

Human Resources committee  I don't know that offhand.

Human Resources committee  This is not necessarily a new issue. It's part of a trend. The worry is that we're not making much progress. Why is that? The role of scientists or engineers is not well understood in K-12, so they don't necessarily see that as a career. It starts before they get to university, because by the time they get to grade 12, they already know their choices.

Human Resources committee  That's an easy question for a difficult answer. First of all, there's a proportion, so it can be that other fields are growing faster than natural science and engineering. The numbers are going up, but proportional to the total number of students enrolled, there are fewer who choose biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering relative to social sciences, humanities, and health.

Human Resources committee  We do that through organizations we provide grants to. Our program called PromoScience supports a number of organizations across the country that reach out to 10- or 12-year-old boys and girls. The program seeks to inspire and maintain their interest. I know that Bonnie Schmidt was here.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me and NSERC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, to talk about our efforts to fill the skills gap. We certainly welcome the opportunity to outline our progress in supplying highly qualified personnel to address labour shortages in high-demand occupations.