Citizenship and Immigration committee  I haven't followed Australia or New Zealand. I have followed, to a greater degree, the changes in the United Kingdom, given that is where I originally came from. There was significant prior consultation before changes were tabled to their operation process.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The only reason our members access the temporary foreign worker program is that they cannot find workers in Canada. That is the whole point of the labour market opinion process. We didn't address this in our remarks. We tried to focus on the proposed changes in Bill C-50. But we would strongly endorse the comments that have been made with regard to the point system.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If you have a question, I'd be happy to answer it—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The solution to the skills and labour shortage facing Canada is clearly to bring in more skilled immigrants. The chamber believes that the changes proposed by Bill C-50, part 6, are a long-overdue recognition of how serious the current and future skills shortage is, by recasting immigration with a view to balancing our economic and social goals as a country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to present the perspectives of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce's 30,000 business members. These members represent every size, every sector, and every region of our province. This is a particularly critical issue for British Columbia and for our membership, so the changes proposed to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, as contained in Bill C-50, part 6, is a significant issue for our members.