I just wanted to touch briefly on the whole issue of temporary workers, because that's a serious problem. I think temporary workers in Canada tend to be the most exploited workers in our society. Agricultural workers often work in difficult working conditions with no enforcement of labour or health standards and no access to our social programs. That's been a huge problem, and it continues to be a huge problem.
Another class of temporary workers in Canada is live-in caregivers, nannies, who have an extradited process towards citizenship but little ability to move between employers, and some real restrictions on their working life in Canada. There are serious considerations about their working conditions, having to live with their employer, that kind of thing, and they have no way around that. So there are some serious problems with the situation of temporary workers in Canada.
The other problem with temporary work is that an employer can go through a process to certify that there is a need for a certain skill set that isn't available in the Canadian workforce and bring in workers from another country on a temporary basis. I think in various places there are concerns now about what that really means and about that certification process. In my own home community, it seems, for instance, applications are being approved and decisions are being made on the basis that a foreign worker is available to work more cheaply than a Canadian is. That thinking flies in the face of some of the criteria that have been established for the program, and it also flies in the face of our ability to maintain a Canadian standard of living and certain working conditions that are important. Many of our unions have difficulty with that kind of program, for instance.
You mentioned the higher unemployment in Lapland. That's an issue here as well when it comes to temporary foreign workers. Do we make it possible for a worker to move from another part of Canada to take that job rather than bringing someone in from outside the country? And finally, do our companies give the kind of internal training that makes it possible for them to fill these positions that they say can't be filled from within Canada? Canada has a terrible record on corporate job training. Employers don't do a lot of job training. Europe presents a much better example in that area. So it's another part of that mix.