That's okay, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thanks again to you and your officials for being back before us.
I want to echo what Mr. Young said about foreign credentials recognition. I represent part of the most ethnically diverse town in all of Canada--Markham--and foreign credential recognition is an enormous issue. It's something that I've been listening to governments talk about for a long time--even in my time as an assistant in the provincial government. Finally we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, so congratulations.
I've had so many requests in my office for copies of the new citizenship guide. I don't know how I'll ever keep up with all the requests and all of the links we've been sending out. It's a huge success.
On the temporary foreign workers program, my riding has an urban component as well as a very important rural component. I talk to my farmers all the time and they tell me the same thing. They don't know how they would ever get their crops in the ground and back out if it wasn't for the temporary foreign workers program. I'm blessed to see the workers in the fields throughout much of the summer--so extraordinary work there.
In her report, the Auditor General said that one of the big factors in the growth of the backlog was the change in the act in 2000. She said it was a key factor in the growth of the inventory. In 2003 there was a reduction in the target levels for foreign skilled workers, and that was another key factor. There are obviously some lessons to be learned there in how new legislative changes can have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of people.
Further on in her report she singled out some of the work that had been done on the Canadian experience class. She said it was a good example of how programming decisions should be supported.
Obviously some planning will go into any future changes, but what are some direct things that are being done to ensure that we start seeing an even greater reduction in the backlog? I know we're going in the right direction, but perhaps you can comment on some specific things we're doing to address the backlog.