Yes, indeed.
I don't have any pages. I have the motion before me, which I hope you'll listen to, because I think it's a very reasonable proposal for us to go to Atlantic Canada in the upcoming summer months.
Through you, Mr. Chairman, to Mr. Sarai, I hope you'll be able to travel from British Columbia to Atlantic Canada and hear these very complicated, serious issues about the economy, how we are going to improve the economy to take new immigrants, and the issues new immigrants have when they come to this country.
You've spoken many times very eloquently. I appreciate the experience you have on this topic, and hopefully we'll hear more of that if you agree to go to Atlantic Canada. There is the issue of language, the issue of education, and the issue of preparing new immigrants to perform. It's true that we need temporary workers in the maritime provinces, but we certainly need experts and well-educated people as well. I think, obviously, many of the new immigrants who are in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are people we need in Atlantic Canada.
Mr. Sarai, I hope you will listen to those comments, and I hope that when you have an opportunity to respond, you will support this motion to go to Atlantic Canada. I hope you don't do what you've done in the past, which is to simply adjourn the debate with no discussion and no vote, and have it just disappear.
I think the people of Atlantic Canada want us to go down there. They want this committee to go down there, whether it's the full committee or a smaller form of the committee. I hope you and your colleagues will agree with that so that we can go down and hear first-hand about some of the major issues on education. The whole issue of education and the universities does get complicated. We need to find out how private enterprise can get involved in that. We haven't had too much testimony on that. What a great opportunity to go down to some of the cities in Atlantic Canada and hear from some of the private companies that are down there as to what they would expect, and what requirements they would have to retain new immigrants to help settle the areas.
Also, I think we need to hear from the people in the rural parts of Atlantic Canada, to hear more of what they have to say about how the economy can improve there, and whether they're able to accept new immigrants down there. There's no question that there's an issue. Will jobs be displaced as a result of new immigrants? Quite frankly, I think that the provincial governments, the federal government, and private enterprise can do things to encourage the economy in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland... and who have I left out?