Pressure at the bargaining table under threat of closure has meant concession bargaining, wage compression, and the increased use of casual or just-in-time labour.

For instance, if Quebec were to decide to focus its manpower training and education program on the aircraft industry and the federal government, just to please the Reform Party, were to centre its manpower training program on the cross-breeding on corn, this could very well hamper the manpower training and regional economic development initiatives of the provinces.

1. Increasing labour supply: Unemployment traps, inactivity traps and low-wage (poverty) traps have an adverse influence on total labour supply and should be diminished in order to increase labour participation and employment growth and reduce benefit dependency../..

a) the opportunity and best way to establish efficient methods to match a skilled workforce with job opportunities, involving effective communication of open positions, collaboration with established companies and a labour force aware of available employment options.

Mr. Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labour, explains the phenomenon in his well-known book The Work of Nations: The head office with some managers and employees is in one country; the engineering, design or technological division can be anywhere the expertise exists; and the manufacturing sector, particularly if much labour cost is involved, is in a low-wage country.

He also added: ``What is unacceptable with this approach is that it is totally improvised, this at a time when, more than ever, government intervention in the manpower development sector must be planned according to priorities, so as to deal efficiently with issues such as manpower shortage, retraining in growing economic sectors, as well as improvement of skills, and thus benefit from market globalization'' (1235) Minister Bourbeau continued by saying: ``I find it hard to believe that the federal government would wilfully do things which, under the pretence of initiating a rapprochement with the private sector, would result in the estab ...[+++]lishment of a network of intermediaries, given that it pledged it would not do such a thing''.