Marie-Françoise Mégie from Quebec.

[English]

Given the aging population across Canada — in the Atlantic region as well — how can you manage this through the opportunity to hire international students?

When they arrive, do they go straight into this industry? Have they been hired for it? Also, from the moment they get their permanent residency permit, are you aware of any of them wanting to change options, or are there so few options that they don’t move? Are you aware of any such situations?

I’ve heard about all the challenges in your region. I understand that it’s the community organizations in a region that usually plan programs to welcome newcomers. From what I understand — I don’t know if I understood correctly — some organizations tend not to encourage newcomers; did I understand correctly?

I see. Thank you.

[English]

I heard you talking earlier about annual scholarships, university science programs — an organization, or the government, offers annual scholarships. Have you seen any interest in these scholarships? Are there people interested in trying to get them?

The reason for my question is this: The more engineers or other people there are in the same sector — in the fishing industry — the more of them will be trained to a high level. This would perhaps encourage research and development in the field, which could perhaps lead to automation, as Senator Burey said, to make life easier and less challenging, and enable the retention of these employees. The more working conditions improve and are alleviated by automation, the more it could encourage them to stay. Do you know if people are interested in these scholarships?

[English]