Human Resources committee  Certainly.

Human Resources committee  Sure. We've been wrestling with this in British Columbia for quite some time. Your description of society's attitude towards the trades is very real. What we're saying is that we will have to, in some manner, engineer a cultural shift that puts the carpenter on the same plane as the architect.

Human Resources committee  The criteria are very clear and direct. With the previous LMA funding, you were only eligible for the program if you were non-EI eligible or if you were improving your employability. It could be language training. It could be training associated with specific skills. The LMDAs are only open to folks who are EI eligible.

Human Resources committee  We're going to provide this morning a little bit of a different perspective, I think, on the LMDA, and, in many ways, our experience with the labour market agreement funding. Let me just give you a real quick overview on the British Columbia Construction Association, the work that we've been doing, and then Paul Mitchell, my colleague, will give you more of the detail around the program that we've operated now since 2006.

Human Resources committee  Certainly. Thank you very much. We'd also like to express our thanks for the opportunity to speak to this committee. It's always a pleasure to come to Ottawa in the spring from Victoria, and we're happy to be here.