You asked about the CREWS program. We can probably admit that it did not meet its full potential. At the beginning, when it started in 2001, it was plagued by the involvement of third party recruiters and a misunderstanding of how the program worked with respect to the visa posts abroad. Some workers were already here illegally and could not use the program.
Applications picked up and became more successful as a result of the high media attention that was given in March 2006 to certain deportations. As a result, when people realized that there was not going to be an undocumented program at that time, they used the temporary foreign worker program to regularize their status. But as I mentioned, not everyone has been able to do so.
Currently a lot of the companies are using the PNP to get permanent residency status for the workers. Some workers have been here seven years on a temporary basis and they just continue to renew because they've had no ability to become permanent. Although, most of the companies do not qualify under the requirements of the Ontario PNP.
Most of our companies, 70% of those that I deal with, have nine or fewer employees. They are the small subcontractors that are employed by the larger contractors, who are employed by the builders. It's the nature of the companies, small business, and they do not meet the requirements of the PNP.