As parliamentarians, you'll make your own decisions about how interventionist the government should be. Our laissez-faire, market-driven system has worked well for decades, but the transport sector is having trouble resetting itself. The chronic uncertainties that are frustrating consumers are also squeezing workers, and the problem is not getting better.
Last month, we asked the Canada Border Services Agency to consider returning to a clearance system they used until just a few years ago. This allowed goods to be released much more quickly, at first point of arrival versus when the cargo has arrived at the destination yard. We've copied the letter to this committee's clerk for your information. We want the committee to know that we are constantly engaging with the government on measures to alleviate delays.
We have a couple of specifics on developing the workforce. We would urge the committee to engage with training institutions to discover whether there are resources they need to up their volumes.
Across the Canadian economy, businesses need to temporarily recruit foreign workers to alleviate shortages. We've engaged with Employment and Social Development Canada on the national occupation classification system, which undervalues certain critical transportation management roles, thus discouraging immigrant workers from applying to work here.
Due to frustrations with the supply chain, employees are leaving this profession and moving to less stressful positions. As a result, our freight forwarding employers are moving to offshore certain functions to aid with current and future labour shortages. Due to the cost structure that this solution enables, many of these activities will not return to Canada.
One of our members commented that offshoring activities have increased from 10% of their workforce up to 25% now.
Finally, we're supportive of strategies to recruit women into these industries, where they're still a small percentage, but we need to recognize that women drivers in the trucking industry, for example, may have somewhat different lifestyles and responsibilities from their male counterparts. They may be interested in local but not transcontinental driving. Also, in the video, there were no porta-potties along that long line, which is a problem for all drivers, and especially for women.
Thanks to the committee again for your attention to this issue, and we welcome your questions.