Thank you.
I've worked with immigrants since I was 17 years old. They've been my life, and this is so frustrating.
Mr. Fairey was talking about the Punjabi community.
So the one issue...you're saying they can't be tied to one worker. However, do the employers not pay their way into Canada? And we have to admit that all people who employ farm labourers do not abuse their people. I think we need to hear from some of these people to help us come up with the solutions. For the underground workers--the last time I met a group--there were 30,000 Polish underground workers in the Toronto area working in the construction business. They don't pay unemployment insurance, so they have no benefit there. They have no health care. They pay no taxes. Their children are probably attending school because they originally applied as refugee claimants, so their kids would be in school--but no other benefits.
So not only are the workers exploiting these people, but we in the government are exploiting them. In 2005, or whenever the last Liberal budget was, Joe Volpe had in place a system where underground workers could come forward or were going to be able to come forward, to get regularized within the system, and if they could show that they were able to fit within the system within two years, they could apply for immigration from within Canada.
Do you think that is a partial solution to these underground workers?