Thank you.
I'm looking, for example, at the area I represent, New Brunswick Southwest, which is very coastal in many areas, deep in the heart of aquaculture, fisheries. We have Connors Bros., Ganong Bros., Paturel, and Cooke's. Certainly some of the work is seasonal, but some of the areas, I would like to stress to both of you, would be not only in the lower-skilled areas but also in the supervisory area.
A lot of work is being done on the ground. For example, in the transportation area there is the Rural Lynx project that we're trying to get off the ground locally. If we look at affordable, accessible child care, the government recently announced $7 billion for that. The other area truly is in skills training. It's so easy, I think, to sit in Ottawa when policies get developed and not take in the geographic parameters when it comes to making policy. It's so easy to sit back and say that a person within a 100-kilometre radius should be taking those jobs. If there's no transportation, there are limitations. These are coastal communities. Many of the jobs are on islands.
In the meantime, when we're all fighting about policies and the best one to fit in, we have employers who are not able to expand or grow. One thing I clearly hear from employers in my region is the opportunity they see in strengthening the structural barriers, and also increasing immigration that is employer-led on specific tasks, specific skills, and growing the two. First and foremost, New Brunswickers would always be the first option.
I can also give an anecdote, as I hear often from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation about cutting taxes. As a small business owner in the riding, even to cut corporate taxes, Mr. Lacey, does not increase our sales. We need more people in our province, more people to be buying, more policies for being more innovative and more diversified. Immigration is an important aspect of that, and there could even be opportunities for migration.
In terms of the immigration policy itself, Mr. Lacey, are you speaking on behalf of your five or six members or did you get a mandate and a policy set forward by all your membership?