Human Resources committee  I'll try to address that. In an area such as where we are in southwest Nova Scotia, the population hasn't really changed over the last hundred years. It's not that we have fewer workers than we did before, but it's regional in nature too. Some regions in our region have a shortage of workers willing to work in the fish plants.

Human Resources committee  It has, yes.

Human Resources committee  That's right. I'll talk about the marginal people you speak about. In our industry, there are a lot of entry-level people coming in who need some essential skills development. We need to focus on lifelong learning in our industry, as in other industries, and build on essential skills while they're in the workplace.

Human Resources committee  Within the seafood sectors we're going to have to do more with fewer people, and that involves training. This sector is so important to provide training and allow us to improve our knowledge so we can do more with fewer people. The use of technology is the way we have to go.

Human Resources committee  I'll talk a bit on the skilled worker shortages. My name is Phil LeBlanc. I am the president of IMO Foods, which is a private label seafood processing company located in Nova Scotia. As we heard, everybody has labour shortages coming up or expected, and the seafood industry is in the same position as everyone else.