Industry committee  I just mentioned the change of culture necessary for the trades to be considered as good jobs for young Canadians. I added that that adjustment should probably be made first by students. But especially, the education system also has to be receptive to workers' needs and be more flexible.

Industry committee  There is no perfect solution, because quite often an education program will take several degrees. A few years ago, we found ourselves caught with a lot of people who were taking courses in the high-technology sectors and were expecting to work in some of the well-known firms in Ottawa.

Industry committee  I'm inclined to agree that there has to be a lot of consultation, but it has to take place at a highly, if you will, atomistic level. That is to say there is no one grand plan, as has been detailed here. As well, there is no one manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector is highly divergent.

Industry committee  One thing that has struck me is the tendency in Canada to think that a post-secondary education means a university education rather than a community college education. I think we have, to a degree, created a culture in this country that tends to downplay the trades as a place where there are tremendous prospects for work.

Industry committee  I'll catch the first part of that one, and that pertains to the observation about perhaps not having a plan 13 years ago. I suspect that anyone who looked 13 years ago at the people who were forecasting where the economy would be today.... They would have never forecast that the economy would be in the kind of healthy shape it is today, that the employment ratio would be at a record level, that the unemployment rate would be at a 32-year low.

Industry committee  I'll take it first because I'm in the labour market forecasting business. The member has raised a very important issue. We should never forget the cost to the economy of finding yourself in a situation in which there are what I describe as people without jobs at the same time as there are jobs without people, or in which you have people in jobs that don't match their skills.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Actually, that is false, because what we use when we compare productivity across countries is real GDP, which is the GDP adjusted for the price level in the country. So when the price of oil goes up, the value of oil production goes up, but in fact the volume of oil production may not be changed.

Human Resources committee  I'd just like to add here that I think implicit in questions like that is the question of the unemployed in Atlantic Canada. In fact, there are more unemployed people in the Toronto greater metropolitan area who are--

Human Resources committee  But I know it is raised quite often, and we should just understand that there are more unemployed in Toronto, for example, than in all four Atlantic provinces combined. So you have to ask the question in the context of the unemployed in Toronto against the jobs in Alberta, as well.

Human Resources committee  I want to briefly say that we're quite cognizant of that issue. I know that in working with the learning branch, we have been doing some research into the effects of geography: how far you are from a college or university, what that means in accommodation cost, and whether that constitutes a significant barrier that we need to address more completely.

Human Resources committee  I'd like to point out that the unemployment rate we referred to was calculated by Statistics Canada. It has nothing to do with the way the employment insurance system works. These figures were based on a poll of Canadian households. There were asked if they were looking for employment or if they currently had employment.

Human Resources committee  I don't have a table with statistics. However, Statistics Canada publishes a lot of information about the working population and employment growth, not only by province, but also by region. We have employment insurance data by administrative region. What has particularly struck us over the past five years is that every region in Canada, and every province, has benefited from the economic recovery and employment growth.

Human Resources committee  I would just like to add here that I think we should not lose track of the fact that most of the studies have shown that Canada actually has a very flexible and mobile workforce in comparison with other countries. That doesn't mean, however, that we should be resting on our laurels, because if we can improve our performance on that score, it's better for all of us.

Human Resources committee  I can answer that question, and the answer is yes, we have had previous experiences like this—although this may perhaps be the most pronounced. We've had these cycles of energy prices twice beforehand, where the Alberta economy especially is booming, so this is the third time around for this kind of an energy price cycle.