I'm happy to speak to the temporary foreign worker program and the need to modernize. We have any number of recommendations. First and foremost, I would go back to some of those previous discussions in the previous panel session here around need for LMIAs and the like.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has long advocated for a trusted employers program. There is a nexus model, and there is also a larger accreditation model. For those of you who have been on this committee for a while, you would have seen me speak to this any number of times. Something like a trusted employers program is going to help and assist with those sorts of issues, and I can say a lot more about that model.
We have any number of recommendations around an appeals process and bringing it online, allowing for the ability to pool together temporary foreign workers who are here in Canada who are now unemployed and who other employers can pull from. We are also very and highly supportive of pathways to permanent residency for temporary foreign workers and have supported many of the government's announcements.
What I will say is that there are absolutely issues with the temporary foreign worker program. I would say that, even with its name, there's a stigma that dates back, in some cases for good reason, but what I would hate to see in any temporary foreign worker program.... I appreciate that it's temporary in nature, but one of the benefits is that the program is a job offer and labour market integration from day one. That sets people up for longer-term success.
As much as we have issues and recommendations for modernizing the program, we would also like to see it stay.