Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming here to speak with us.
Ms. Fraser, you said that the plan presented by the department was flawed and that a strategy needed to be developed. I agree.
You also mentioned that the wait times had a significant impact on applicants, but also on their employers. You also spoke about changes to the number of categories. My colleague, Mr. St-Cyr, properly identified the source of this by confirming that these wait times were likely leading to that phenomenon.
In point 8, you said that many resources were devoted to assessing applicants, but that there are few resources to ensure a follow-up with employers to determine whether they were respecting the terms and conditions. We know that, for most programs, applicants are linked to an employer and not to a job, which in many ways puts workers in a weaker position because they could lose their job arbitrarily.
We have talked about the wait times that can be as long as 63 months when an applicant already has a permit tying him or her directly to an employer and that applicant loses his job abruptly. There are also abnormal delays for employees who would like to qualify for the same kind of position but with another employer.