International Trade committee  Agreed.

International Trade committee  Agreed.

International Trade committee  There are four subsections in that chapter, correct. You can come in as a business visitor. You can come in as an intra-company transferee. You can come in as an investor. You can come in as a technician of a profession. We believe they'll come under professions and technicians, because construction is listed as well as intra-company transferees.

International Trade committee  There are a couple of things. First, I'll be clear. We're not opposed to foreign workers coming to Canada. For example, a couple of years ago, we brought in 150 crane operators from Chicago through the TFW program to work in Alberta—legitimate system follow-through. In a time of need, we'd understand there's a need for foreign workers, but for the next little while, I don't think there's going to be much need for foreign workers, as we're facing more and more unemployment on the construction side, unfortunately, with the price of oil dropping.

International Trade committee  I don't have the exact number. I know the building trades in British Columbia have been looking at this, and I also believe that the Canada Revenue Agency has been trying to get a handle on it as well.

International Trade committee  When someone comes into Canada, when they have a job, they have to meet criteria to come in. They go to the work site, and the enforcement is done by ESDC and Service Canada. There are many different layers involved. Unfortunately, we've found that currently the regulated system of the temporary foreign worker program is not working very well.

International Trade committee  I do, and again, a case in point—I can't remember the name—was a company in British Columbia that brought in a bunch of Polish workers, who were being underpaid. The company was charged and pulled up shop. It left, I think, 15 workers stranded in British Columbia, so the unions and some social assistance people had to start providing for these people.

International Trade committee  The third part is: they are undocumented Canadians who have come in through previous temporary foreign worker programs and have vanished in the system.

International Trade committee  Right now, there's the example of high-rise concrete construction in British Columbia. The unionized building trades have been approached by three non-union companies to ask for our help in deterring the underground economy in British Columbia. There's an RCMP investigation that has opened.

International Trade committee  They're being investigated right now, and I'd be more than willing to bring in the people who have done that for you.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  As a contractor, or as an owner?

International Trade committee  If the contractor hired an illegal, then they're not worried about liabilities at all. They're willing to take that chance to increase their bottom line. The liability and contracts don't matter to some of these people that come in.

International Trade committee  First of all, to answer that, you said that it was a unionized site. We're diligent on unionized sites.

International Trade committee  Yes, but we represent only a third. Up to 40% of the construction sites are unionized members, and 60% is done with non-union workers. Out of that, I can't give you a percentage or how much of that is illegal, but people cut corners to save. As you and I talked about, they game the system.