Mr. Speaker, I know she has a tremendous interest in this issue as well and has done a tremendous amount of work. She has a number of constituents who are also faced with this concern. Many other parliamentarians share this concern with her as they have a number of constituents within their respective ridings who are directly impacted by this.
As I mentioned during my speech, the economic impact in our nation of not utilizing or recognizing the credentials of foreign trained individuals, either new Canadians or Canadians who were born and raised here, is in the range of $2.4 billion. These people come here trained in the sciences, in management or in a variety of other skilled professions. However, when they arrive in the country, it takes so long for them as individuals to get their credentials recognized, to be accredited and then to actually integrate into the labour market workforce, and our country suffers a huge economic loss.
It is not only about the dollars, or economic loss or reduced economic prosperity and growth. There is also a social factor to this. There is a cost in social and human terms that is quite extensive. It is our obligation as Canadians and as parliamentarians to really work in a collaborative spirit with all provincial and territorial stakeholders and regulatory associations to ensure we really move forward in this area.