Mr. Speaker, until yesterday, the government said that it needed Bill C-50 to secure skilled workers for our country.
Will it now start by addressing the issue of undocumented workers? They number over 200,000, many of them Portuguese. They possess proven and needed skills. Most of them have been here for more than three years. They are already integrated, the certification of their credentials already verified by their employers. An architecture for providing them with permanent residency was already put in place by the previous government, along with the money to get it done.
The current government has squandered two and a half years of opportunity, doing nothing. Meanwhile workers, crucial to our economic development, are prevented from making a contribution and getting on with their lives. They languish in uncertainty.
The government has the money and now it has the legislative authority. Does it have the political will to do the right thing and land these undocumented workers now?