Mr. Speaker, it is important to underline the point that when we tackle this issue we do so with the principles of justice and fairness in mind for all workers in Canada: Canadian citizens, permanent residents and temporary foreign workers. That is the NDP's position. It is a position of social justice and fairness for all those who live in Canada.
What we need to underline in this debate is how the temporary foreign worker program feeds into the downward spiral of wages in this country. I have listened to members opposite talk about this program and how fantastic it is, but we have to think about what is going on in the city of Toronto with about one-third of the temporary foreign workers, upwards of 100,000 temporary foreign workers. The government says there are no skilled workers to do these jobs. Between 2004 and 2008 about 45,000 highly skilled, internationally educated engineers immigrated to Toronto. The government is telling us that there is a skills shortage in the city of Toronto. The Conservatives should take a cab in Toronto and talk to the doctors and the engineers and the scientists there.