I won't ask too many questions.
Further to what Madam Folco was saying, of course, the federal government does provide integration and settlement funds to the provinces, which work in the area of integration and language training, as do third parties and school boards. It's kind of a cooperative thing therein. We've proposed as a government a credential recognition committee to help out with those who come in with credentials that we might recognize in our country.
The area I wanted to speak about is.... You were looking at promoting work-based immigration, and of course you'll probably have the social side of it as well. But the work-based portion, where you'll be looking to bring in more skilled workers and temporary foreign workers, is something we're doing now. I'm hoping we don't get into a competition in that area, but it seems, for the same reasons, because of an aging population in a fairly strong economy, we're facing similar problems to what you are.
We've had a program called the provincial nominee program. It works differently from province to province. Some provinces have capitalized on it--Manitoba, for instance, Saskatchewan to some degree, Ontario not quite yet. What they've done is they've matched employers needing a particular skilled person with employees, and they actively recruit the people who are trying to meet the expectation with someone who's looking for that particular skill or trade. Immigration facilitates that provincial application and tries to get it processed more quickly than the normal stream of immigration.
It seems to be working reasonably well where it is working. The problems are still timing and how long it takes to do the matching. Many would like to see a far shorter time; nonetheless, it's a lot quicker than going through the regular stream in immigration. Some provinces have been able to do that relatively successfully.
We also have a situation that's developed in some of the more major centres where perhaps because it's difficult to get through the system in the regular way, people have filled particular jobs and opportunities without coming through the system, perhaps in a measure because the system has not been properly geared for what's happening in the economy and in the trades. The provinces are slowly trying to address that. We have a good group of people who are working but have not been regularized.
I think the system could be improved, and when you're looking at this issue of skills and trades and working, you have to be sure you develop a system that will meet the needs, so to speak, as opposed to blocking those who might be legitimate entrants. You'll find that those who want to come in on the skilled areas or trade areas generally come from places that have some connection to family. In other words, if there's a housing contractor and his community is involved in that business, they will be attracted to that trade.
So somehow if you can combine the need for the workers with the objectives of the communities there, it might be helpful.