Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister Kenney, and to the department.
I also want to ask a question regarding the temporary foreign worker program. I know there have been a lot of questions from the opposition on this, but I want to speak specifically to a certain proposal that's out there. Proponents of a proposal, in fact, I believe it's the official policy of the NDP, believe that temporary foreign workers should actually receive permanent residency here in Canada. It should be automatic.
Now, it is my understanding that a large proportion of temporary foreign workers are actually low-skilled workers. If it's our government's position to find Canadians jobs first, I guess I'm leading up to a specific question. When I think of the temporary foreign worker program, it says “temporary” for a certain reason, it shouldn't become automatic permanent residency.
I'm just wondering, if we were to take the advice of the NDP and other proponents of that proposal, what it would actually mean if the Canadian labour market were permanently flooded with over 340,000 additional people.