Sorry on the front end of this. I understand, of course, with workers going to Alberta, possibly the majority will be going into the construction industry, which I represent in this province. I'm not speaking for other industries, just construction.
I'd like to make it quite clear to the committee that in the unionized construction industry in Newfoundland and Labrador there is no shortage of workers. We have an ample supply of workers to meet our needs. We can't supply Alberta and Ontario with all their needs, although we try as much as we can.
Right now, of course, at least in major industrial work, we're relatively slow, which allows us to have a lot of our people in western Canada. We're on the doorstep of major work here in this province, and we anticipate having our people return from either western Canada or central Canada, wherever they may be working, to work our projects. But as of right now, we can fill all of the requirements we have within our province in our unionized sector.
There is a shortage of skilled trades in the non-union sector, and as stated previously—I believe Greg addressed it to some degree—it's solely because of the amount of wages and benefits paid these people, and they have options to be elsewhere, making better wages, better benefits, looking after their families. That's the problem.