Great article, I totally agree about the training. I was a teacher for many (18) years and when I moved I ended up on EI as I transitioned to my new home (where there were no teaching jobs available). The EI program had a place for recipients who were interested in retraining and starting a business and I enrolled and learned how to do it. Great program, and 12 years later I run a global educational toy  business, selling in 25 countries around the world. That re-training was a great first step. I agree that it is the least  sexy thing that would ever be announced by a politician, but for me - learning new skills in my 40's was critical (I had 2 university degrees, but no knowledge in how to run a business). This kind of innovation won't get you voted in though, it is a crappy sound bite, but fomenting fear and protectionism seemed to work. His first day though, there is still time for a policy shift, and I'm an optimist....