Finance committee  I wanted to go back to this professional barrier. This actually is something we do need to address. A lot of that is at a provincial level. The professional barriers do stop many of the immigrants or a number of skilled immigrants from progressing into the jobs we would want the

Finance committee  I think some of it involves having dialogue with professional bodies about minimum requirements, ensuring that we have good processes, and looking at educational opportunities. Some of the requirements that professions have relate to education. Finding ways for these folks who ha

Finance committee  If I may, Mr. Chair, I'd like to turn it over to the person who's actually an expert on that, Brenda Lafleur.

Finance committee  You come from a province that's trying to reduce the barriers to mobility. TILMA, for instance, was a good first step in terms of reducing barriers. We have accreditation barriers between provinces that shouldn't exist. There is a long list of those that reduce labour mobility in

Finance committee  I think there are a lot of parts of the “Great Society” program that we've seen haven't functioned over time. I would tend to agree that the more balanced approach has probably functioned a little bit better.

Finance committee  Our income mobility is actually higher, in terms of our ability to go up through the income ranks, if you will, the quintiles.

Finance committee  We have actually been fairly successful in terms of income mobility. It's interesting, and I know that Professor Wilkinson could reflect on this. If you look at families, I think the statistics in the U.K. show that about 50% of the income gap that your parents have stays with yo

Finance committee  I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the phrase.

Finance committee  These are complex sets of factors, really. You've heard from several people that it's really hard to pick it apart. One of the things that I emphasized earlier that's rather interesting is that if you look at the Gini index, the ones that have the lowest Gini index are trying t

Finance committee  I think there are a couple of things in here that are important. You've heard the word “globalization” in terms of the income shifts, but technology is also a huge force that impacts that middle class, in which the value of the information and consolidation skills has become lowe

Finance committee  If we look at the evidence from some of the programs, there's a recent study of the U.S. head start program. You want to invest early. You want to target those investments to those who can ill-afford them, to answer the earlier question. But there's a “but”—you have to follow up.

Finance committee  If you look at it, I think education at all levels is important. This goes to getting people at early ages into the educational system, making sure we develop their natural skills and abilities and that they stay in. Post-secondary education covers a whole array, not just univer

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee, for inviting me. We submit that this is an issue that is important to review and monitor and to create a public policy framework around. My comments and the data behind them can be found on our website, in a section called “How Canada Perfo