I wasn't going to mention anything because I think this is a good step, but I just want to reassure Mr. Martin. I have employing people in northern Alberta for 30 years steadily, and I have recently had no other choice but to have one of my businesses get a temporary foreign worker. I can assure you that after eight months and being refused and having to go through another process, another application, it is not easy, first of all, even with proper market opinion. And it is not inexpensive. Quite frankly, I have found these temporary foreign worker solutions to be much more expensive than finding domestic people. The only difference is that they will stay with you longer because of the necessity of a contract and also because of the obligations you have on providing them with a room that is adequate.
I know that Alberta has quite stringent guidelines in relation to how temporary foreign workers are treated, how they're brought in, and what market and what businesses they can go to. But in no way at all are there pimps in Alberta, as he suggested, that I'm aware of, in dealing with these on a practical basis, on a consistent basis.
I do believe that I have one of the busiest immigration offices in the country—certainly in the top ten, I know that. So I deal with a lot of these, and my staff do, and in no way have we seen any of the suggestions Mr. Martin has come up with. In fact, it is the total opposite. They are not less expensive. In fact, I find they're more expensive. I would say they are 10% to 15% to 20% more expensive, including what we have to do for rooms and what we have to do for wages. It's not a cheaper solution by any stretch of the imagination.