We're different. We're not an employer, but we work with many companies in the oil and gas industry, mainly in construction. The types of people we're recruiting are skilled trades. The process we go through is governed by the Government of Alberta--the Alberta apprenticeship and industry training department--which essentially oversees the quality and the certification of the workers who are coming into Canada.
I don't really like to call us a recruiter because we're not. We get calls from recruiters around the world. Essentially, we're an outsource solution for companies that really don't want to deal with the entire recruitment process of ensuring that the workers have the proper qualifications, the language skills, and all those things that are required, as well as ensuring that they're settled into Canada.
We're based in Sherwood Park, which is about a 15-minute drive from here. Our office is right in the hub of all the major oil companies that are building the upgraders about half an hour from here, in Fort Saskatchewan. The companies we work with are really servicing these upgraders. They need an estimated 32,000 tradespeople over the next five years to complete these projects. On average, these projects are anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion in size. Some are getting up into the $20 billion range, in terms of labour costs and the escalating cost of materials. So our company, needless to say, is a little busy.
We get a lot of inquiries from companies that don't know about the temporary foreign worker program. A lot of them don't even know about the LMO process. So we're there to work with organizations, to walk them through what they need to do as an employer, and then our commitment to them is to find them the workers to come to Canada. So we are a big part of the whole program. We're the ones in the trenches who are typically dealing with immigration and the various embassies around the world.
I just wanted to make some comments today. To be honest, our experience to date has been good. I wouldn't say anything negative about the immigration process. There are certainly things that we see as a company that is charged with the responsibility of--I guess in construction terms--finding people yesterday. The reality is that it just won't happen, and we're there to explain to organizations that if they need workers in a week, it's just not going to happen. So we're there to educate them. But as I said, our experience has been good.
Currently, we have mobilized 200 workers into Alberta over the past year. We need close to 4,000 skilled trades over the next year and a half. And to be honest, it's going to be a very difficult feat. It comes down to the organizations and their planning for resources and for people. Also, there are some things that I think, if they can be done, would improve the process from the government's standpoint.
I just made some notes. I talked to three major players in the market--construction companies--that are needing to bring in these workers, and I wanted to get some of their comments, because they obviously couldn't be here today. But I think it's important that some of their comments are noted.
One of the things we're facing right now in the process is the work permit. I heard one of the previous speakers mention that there's limited mobilization for a temporary foreign worker once they arrive in Canada. They come in on a work permit under one company; they are responsible for working with that company, and it is the company's responsibility to take care of that worker.
In a perfect world, everyone will come in and be happy and have a job for as long as they're needed under the temporary foreign worker program, but in reality, that doesn't happen. There are companies that abuse the system, and you may know of them. They're companies that have absolutely no intention of making the workers successful. They're brought in under a temporary basis to do the work that maybe, on one front, a Canadian worker wouldn't do.
There are definitely safety issues that come into play on some of these jobs. Another reason would be working conditions. It is not just safety but the ability to work in an environment that I know I wouldn't work in.
So we see these companies. They pop up. From time to time, they call us, and we politely let them know they should look elsewhere. But we do a good job of screening.
The organizations we work with, the construction companies, have made a commitment to training and to making these workers successful when they come to Canada. When a worker is laid off and not brought here but is perhaps paid fees, sometimes you find out and sometimes you don't.
That's where the speaker before mentioned that...I think it was Yessy Byl, who is a major part of this program in Alberta. She has seen it because we've talked to her. She has contacted us and the companies we work with to see if there are any job opportunities for these workers who are brought here under false pretenses and locked into the program without a job. We do what we can for them. And recent experience—