Thank you to all the officials for being here.
I want to turn to the temporary foreign worker program. That's on page 65 of the report on plans and priorities. I have a number of questions.
I want to focus first on the live-in caregiver program. As I'm sure you know, the live-in caregiver program is a very important program for Canadian families and businesses. It's an important source of caregivers for families for their children, for aging parents—particularly those with dementia and other disabilities—and for people with disabilities.
Since the changes to the LIC program, though, the statistics are, I guess in a word, startling. In December 2014 there was an 85% rejection rate for LIC applications from families across Canada. In January 2015 there was a 93% refusal rate. In February 2015 there was a 91% rejection rate. In March 2015 there was an 86% rejection rate.
I have families who run businesses coming to my office and saying they need caregivers to take care of their children so that they can actually devote their time to their business and so they can action into the workforce. They're telling me they have to pay $1,000 to the government; that's not refundable. They are told by the government that caregivers will be available. They cross every t, dot every i, and comply with every requirement of the program, and then their application is rejected.
They want me to ask you why there is such an appalling rejection rate of valid applications. They also want me to ask you if the government is really trying to kill the LIC program but just doesn't have the political courage to come out and say so.