Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll just pick up on some of my colleagues' questions, and with your comments, Mr. Ferguson, I couldn't agree more. A lot of the topics that I think exacerbate problems within the TFW program are difficult political questions, like why people elect to go on EI rather than go to work at a seafood processing plant. It's not an easy question to be asked, but it's one that we have to address, as well as if there are backlogs in other economic immigration streams that are preventing people from coming to Canada.
While I have a moment to pontificate, Mr. Chair, I think that the low-skilled TFW program shouldn't exist.
Nonetheless, on to data to prove my case. I'm just wondering, to the departmental officials, if there is any data or if any work has been undertaken to understand people who are on EI in Atlantic Canada who might be affected by TFWs coming in to work in seafood processing plants, and at what wage they would go to work at that plant. Has there been any analysis of the wage that would be acceptable to do that work for people who are on employment insurance?