I think there are several perspectives you could look at. There are several tools in the tool kit to deal with the labour challenges in the country right now, particularly with respect to seafood. It is a real challenge. The average age of a worker in the fish harvesting and seafood processing sector, particularly the seafood processing sector, is probably approaching 60 years in Canada right now. In my province alone it's a significant issue. If you look at the Maritimes in the lobster sector, it's a massive issue.
The tools include certainly investment in technology, automation, and innovation. I've had an opportunity to visit facilities in Iceland and Norway. They've advanced very rapidly around technology and innovation. I made some points earlier in my statement about the need for supports for the seafood sector in that area, because it is lagging, in part due to the lack of support.
On the issue of temporary foreign workers, there's no doubt that it is a tool in the tool kit. Certainly the changes that were made to that program a couple of years ago have had a significant impact on the seafood industry in Canada. There's little doubt about that. Certainly the lobster sector in particular has been really feeling the pain. There has just not been an available supply of labour. They would look at it and say, “There are other programs within the Government of Canada that support the primary agricultural industry. Why are there not programs to support us? Why have the changes been made? Why can't we correct this?”
We're seeing it in other jurisdictions. I visited Iceland three months ago. Their workforce was largely made up of migrant workers. Now, in many cases, they are now citizens. They had a path to citizenship. Some have been there quite a few years. If you look at the demographic in these countries, most of them are foreign workers who are now residents, in that case.
We are one of the last jurisdictions to go down this road. The reality is that things like support for temporary foreign workers are tools in the tool kit. Whether it's a long-term solution or a medium-term solution, you could debate, but the reality is if we are going to promote trade agreements, as we've been talking about here today, it's all great to remove tariffs and barriers, but if you don't have the labour to produce the product to sell to the global community, then we have a major issue on our hands.