Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I waited until now to discuss the temporary foreign worker program at greater length. Thanks to the government's changes, the program has ballooned obscenely, driving wages down and causing Canadians to be replaced with foreign workers. There are numerous examples showing that to be the case.
The minister has repeatedly said that concrete steps were swiftly taken as soon as the violations came to light. But it's obvious that the Conservative government only takes action when wrongdoing is in the media spotlight.
The minor measures that have been proposed thus far are not enough to fix the situation. We have called for a moratorium on the stream for lower-skilled occupations while the program is under independent review. Last year, we proposed important amendments to improve the program, but the Conservatives rejected them.
So we are proposing another amendment to make the program more transparent. We hope the Conservatives and the Liberal representative on the committee will get behind it.
In the House, when we ask the government whether administrative measures have been imposed—for instance, whether a number of employers have been put on the blacklist—the government says yes. As we see the situation, no real measures have been taken. There's even some confusion as to how many employers are on the blacklist, four or none. Whatever the case may be, it's obvious that the information is inadequate and that we, as members of Parliament, should be able to obtain regular reports on the blacklist and the penalties that have been imposed.
In short, the point of amendment NDP-18 is to give us the ability to obtain reports on how the program is being administered.