Good morning, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me to take part in this meeting.
I didn't prepare a fancy speech like my colleagues. As you'll see, I'm a businessman and I don't have the jargon and turns of phrase of a public servant, but I will be clear and to the point.
As you mentioned, I live in the wonderful city of Haut-Madawaska, the most beautiful city in Canada. I am the president of the Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce, and I also belong to other committees in the region.
The main purpose of my presentation today is to explain how Haut-Madawaska Chamber of Commerce members see the francophonie's opportunities and challenges. I'll go over the points we decided to focus on as a result of the steps we've taken with chamber of commerce members and other stakeholders.
One of the biggest issues in our region is recruiting workers, and one of our main economic activities is the poultry sector. We know chicken farming. I believe our region is the nation's leader in raising, slaughtering and processing chickens, as well as wood processing. Those two sectors are extremely important to us. Because we are in a small remote area, we recruit workers from Canada and from other countries. Our entrepreneurs actively recruit francophone workers. We are in a francophone region, and preserving our language is important to us.
Our companies compete for workers with Quebec City, Montreal and southern New Brunswick, mainly. Many of the workers we recruit from outside our region want to go to those large francophone centres. However, once they set foot in our region, they realize that, compared to big cities, the quality of life here is exceptional. Young families that settle here are well served.
The chamber of commerce runs a few projects, including the community incentive plan. Funded by three leading members of the chamber of commerce, this plan helps subsidize newcomers and their families who want to come and settle in our region.
I'd like to talk about some of the challenges our businesses are facing. First of all, credential recognition programs can be very onerous because there is too much bureaucracy. They are also extremely expensive for our workers. Second, like everywhere else in Canada, we lack housing to accommodate new workers and new families. Chamber of commerce members and the City of Haut-Madawaska are trying to tackle this problem. The situation should be rectified in a few years.