Thank you, Mr. Chair.
For us, it's having government support the immigration of skilled workers, particularly with respect to certain jobs in the unskilled area, but also in the skilled area; there's a shortage of that as well.
You touched upon the temporary foreign worker program. I believe a number of improvements can be made at that level. For example—and in our submission we reference this—including a trusted employer element in the temporary and foreign worker program is, I think, one of the areas that can really improve. This would mean ensuring that employers register....
As an example, in B.C. they are discussing this as we speak. They're looking to have employers register if they're looking to bring in temporary foreign workers, in line with the federal program. It would add an element of trust, and also among the population, in knowing that this employer has done due diligence with respect to bringing in the workforce only because they can't find Canadians to do that work.
That is specific. You mentioned the farming industry in Canada. Whether it's in British Columbia or in Quebec, not being able to get the workers to pick the crops, etc., is a huge issue for farmers.
I also believe that improving data collection and analysis and communicating that analysis to the population would go a long way. As you mentioned, there's an element of distrust, an idea that perhaps employers are turning towards the temporary foreign worker program because they don't want to hire Canadian. That's not not necessarily the case, but I think providing data supporting that analysis would actually help the population believe it.
Also, I think we need to ensure that we support businesses and stakeholders who are looking to ensure that they have the workforce to turn the corner. I mentioned earlier the Global Action Networks. I think Canada, and specifically stakeholders within Canada, should be joining the Global Apprenticeship Network. As I mentioned, it was created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A number of organizations have joined it. A few of them are PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM, Microsoft, Accenture, and so on. I don't believe any Canadian company or stakeholder has joined that network, and I think that would help as well.