The unemployment rate is 7% across the country. There are many workers who have given up hope altogether. There are people who are on social assistance of one form or another, who would simply love to have the chance to tune up their skills a bit, to improve themselves a bit, to give themselves a shot to get their foot in the door. Is this something that the government should look at through the EI program, to bring some of these people up—instead of handouts, give them a hand up, retrain them, and get them back into the workforce?
I get your point about bringing in temporary foreign workers, but when we have people at home wanting a chance, shouldn't we take a look at them first?