Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to point something out for the record of the committee. I am referring to the tendency to use Canada's economic action plan and the budgets as steamrollers that do not allow committees to do a proper job. This trend is starting to be a real concern for the future of our country's democracy. I am pleased to have the floor, but we almost did not have a full round at this meeting with senior officials when we are studying the very important issue of temporary workers, given everything that has happened over the past several months.
As we say in my riding, it's a bit of a mess.
Let's look at the example of an engineer who wanted to come to Canada to work for three days. My office had to help him out. He was not getting his permit. This man had an expertise that no one else had in North America. He was applying for a three-day permit while our Mexican workers who work on farms come to work late.
Gentlemen, on the front lines, the current work situation
is a bit messy.
Suspending the accelerated process is a sort of admission of these challenges. However, suspension implies that the process will be reinstated. We are not looking for lip service. What approach will you take to ensure that the new powers granted under Bill C-60 will be used despite losing almost 40,000 members of your staff? What will be the approach to ensure that the program will be less messy if it is brought back?