Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming.
I represent Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, a very rural riding in Ontario with a very aging demographic. I think I have the second-oldest demographic in the province of Ontario.
The labour shortage is huge. It's the biggest thing I heard throughout the most recent federal election. It doesn't matter what sector. I'm hearing it from my farmers, the agricultural sectors and the food processors like Exceldor and Maple Leaf Foods in my riding. The Wood Manufacturing Cluster of Ontario has reached out to me. As for the auto industry, you can't even get a mechanic. They're robbing Peter to pay Paul. As well, the PSWs and the health care sector.... Everybody is hurting, and you can understand why.
One of the issues they've all reached out about and that has been a common thread across all sectors is the need to augment and do an emergency temporary foreign worker program. As such, I'd like feedback from the witnesses on the viability of this as a recommendation. If a specific industry experiences a job vacancy rate of over 5%, would it be viable to remove the requirement for a labour market impact assessment, an LMIA, to hire temporary foreign workers?
Then, when that vacancy rate drops back under 5% for six consecutive months, that LMIA could be reinstated. Can you give any feedback?