First of all, perhaps I should disclose that I have a bit of a vested interest, I suppose, being a trained labour economist.
The survey that I was talking about is called SLID, a survey of labour and income dynamics, and it would follow people over time. We can get so much information by following people over time. When we look at the labour force survey that is released once a month, we can follow someone only for nine consecutive months at the very most.
That survey was pretty complicated. I remember it took me a while to get comfortable with it, but it was eliminated with absolutely brutal budget cuts at Statistics Canada.
As for the temporary foreign workers issue, it is still very much a relevant and hot button issue. They finally did allocate funds for the creation of a new survey, which would try to measure labour shortages and labour surpluses at the local level. At the level of the provinces, it's much too aggregated to really figure out what is going on in these local labour markets.
We need more detailed data collected from firms, as well as individuals, because firms, as well as workers, are important actors over long periods of time. We also have to make judgments based on how people act, not just on what people say. Everyone says that they desperately want to work, but economic research is often based on observed outcomes and observed behaviour, rather than just what people profess orally.