Debates of May 27th, 2013

Labour

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in January of this year, 100 workers at Veritas Communications lost their jobs when the company closed its doors and put them out of work. The company subsequently—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. We have moved on to the next question now. The hon. member for Welland has the floor. If members want to carry on a conversation, they will have to do so outside the chamber.

The hon. member for Welland.

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, 100 workers at Veritas Communications found themselves out of work this January when the company simply closed its doors and declared bankruptcy, unfortunately in the United States. It should have declared bankruptcy in this country, but it did not. If it had done so, the wage earner protection program would have covered these workers to the tune of $3,640 for each and every individual worker, but now we find that these workers are in limbo.

Will the Minister of Labour take immediate action to help these workers receive the WEPP money they so rightly deserve?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, like the member, I am very concerned about the situation. The workers have spoken to me and the Minister of Justice. I have spoken to the leaders of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and the Canadian Auto Workers Union as well. It is a matter we take very seriously. I have asked my labour officials to look at this very closely.

Taxation

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every day, Canadian charities are working tirelessly to help those in need. Nobody knows this better than the member for Kitchener—Waterloo, one of Parliament's biggest advocates for charities. Indeed, the member initiated a landmark study by the finance committee to examine ways to provide even more support for charitable organizations.

Could the Minister of State (Finance) please update the House on the government's latest action to help Canadian charities?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, today the finance minister, along with the member for Kitchener—Waterloo, helped launch the first-time donor super credit. It is designed to encourage more Canadians, especially young Canadians, to give to charity. The super credit will increase the value of the federal charitable donations tax credit by 25% for donors who have not contributed to this since 2007. This new credit will have an immediate positive impact for charities all across this country.

Tourism Industry

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, international tourism increased again by 4% in 2012.

Meanwhile, Canada slipped from 7th to 18th place as an international destination. The industry is worried about the future. The major international events network, MIEN, has called on the federal government to implement structural measures to stop this downward slide.

MIEN is asking for increased funding for the Canadian Tourism Commission and the creation of a program to support major international events.

Will the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism finally implement solutions to provide more stable and sustainable funding for our tourism industry?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with the tourism industry for several months.

A few months ago, we introduced the federal tourism strategy. This major strategy has been endorsed by all stakeholders in the tourism industry. We will soon be releasing a public report on the first year of the strategy's implementation.

I would like to say that this report will be very positive and well received, also by my colleague opposite, I hope.

[Jean-François Fortin, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's tourism industry is working very hard to attract tourists.

However, it has to contend with the federal government, which is continually cutting funding for events and festivals. Ottawa does not seem to care that Canada welcomes fewer and fewer tourists every year. That is a real threat to the economy of many regions that have already been affected by the federal government's cuts and reforms.

Instead of spending millions of dollars to try to generate interest in the monarchy and the War of 1812, why does the government not spend more money on events that benefit communities and really attract tourists?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, to attract tourists, the Canadian Tourism Commission advertises in countries where people have expressed an interest in coming to Canada, in emerging countries, in developing countries and in traditional countries such as the United States and European countries.

I would like to tell my colleague that hotel occupancy rates increased considerably last year compared to the previous year. Spending on tourism increases year over year in Canada. We are working with all stakeholders in the tourism industry to ensure its success in the coming months.

Telecommunications

[Bruce Hyer, Independent, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, months ago, I asked the minister to take action before the big three telecoms took over Canada's smaller players and the last sliver of the wireless market. Now we learn that Mobilicity is being swallowed by Telus. WIND and Public Mobile are up for sale too.

Their wireless strategy is failing, and we get soaring wireless costs. Will the minister reserve any new spectrum auction for new entrants only and block the sale of more wireless market share to the big three until we have some real competition?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we put policies in place back in 2008 to increase competition to have better rates and more choices for consumers. We want to ensure that there is a fourth player in every region of this country. What I can tell my colleagues is that these policies work.

Just recently, we learned from a Wall Communications report that prices went down an average of 11%. This is an accomplishment. We will continue to do so.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 18 petitions.

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the reports of the Canadian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, respecting their participation at, one, the 126th IPU Assembly and related meetings in Kampala, Uganda, from March 31 to April 5, 2012; two, the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Twelve Plus Group in Paris, France, on February 25, 2013; three, the 57th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, on March 5, 2013; four, the 128th IPU Assembly and related meetings in Quito, Ecuador, from March 22 to 27, 2013.

Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled Main Estimates: 2013-14.

I also have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled Economic Opportunities for Young Apprentices.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

Public Accounts

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in relation to its study of the main estimates 2013-14: vote 20, under finance.

Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present to the House, in both official languages, the New Democratic Party of Canada's supplementary opinion concerning the study on economic opportunities for young apprentices recently conducted by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons With Disabilities.

The NDP supports the report, but feels that its recommendations should better represent all the testimony heard by the committee. It could for example suggest that the government make improvements to the employment insurance program for apprentices or that it work more closely with the provinces and territories, first nations, unions and the underemployed, rather than turning this report into a promotional platform for the 2013 budget.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, be concurred in.

This particular report stated that the committee begin a study of the foreign qualification and recognition process in Canada to be titled “A Framework for Success: Practical Recommendations to Further Shorten the Foreign Qualification Recognition Process”.

In case people are wondering what foreign qualification recognition is, it is defined as follows:

Foreign qualification recognition is the process of verifying that the knowledge, skills, work experience and education obtained in another country is [sic] comparable to the standards established for Canadian professionals and tradespersons.

At the time, we had about eight meetings and we heard from a variety of witnesses. I want to touch briefly upon the dissenting opinion of the New Democratic Party, which we tabled along with the report.

I am just going to read from this:

While we support the general direction and recommendations in this report, there are key points around funding and time frames that we felt needed to be highlighted. Spending is about choices and choosing options that will improve and make the foreign qualification system more productive is an obvious one. Using fiscal restraint as an excuse not to deal with problems in health human resources planning will result in perverse consequences like continuing high spending on wrong options. It is clear to us that there needs to be more action from the federal government to rationalize the system, communicate with potential immigrants overseas and to provide the appropriate funding to help qualified immigrants get the necessary training or experience to be able to work in Canada. New Democrats suggest these recommendations should be amended as follows:

There were numerous recommendations, but there were actually four that we felt needed further attention by the government.

Recommendation one:

The Committee recommends that the federal government continue to financially support bridging programs that put a particular emphasis on profession specific language training, work experience, identification of skill gaps, and support to fill those gaps. The Committee further recommends that the bridging programs and program stakeholders engage in practices that use data sharing to improve the understanding of recruitment and retention patterns and workforce outcomes.

We also suggested changes to recommendation four:

The Committee recommends that Citizenship and Immigration Canada approach provincial and territorial regulatory authorities to discuss the possibility of pre-qualifying internationally trained individuals for certain occupations as part of the immigration process.

Recommendation number seven:

The Committee recommends that the federal government act as a model employer with regard to internship opportunities for internationally trained individuals by maintaining such initiatives as Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Federal Internship for Newcomers Program and increasing the number of interns accepted into the program.

Finally, in recommendation number 13, New Democrats propose:

The Committee recommends that funding for the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications and its related programs be maintained at least at the 2011-12 level for the next five years.

I am going to touch on a number of those changes to the recommendations.

However, before I get into that, one of the reasons we thought the report was important is that it is not news in Canada that we do have a shortage of skilled workers and that there have been challenges both around the immigration process on recognition of foreign credentials and, as well, with programs like the temporary foreign worker program and within the first nations, Inuit and Metis communities around filling gaps that we have long known about in a number of occupations.

With regard to the temporary foreign worker program, in a May 7 article, CBC released some information. The article is titled, “Temporary foreign workers hired in areas with EI claimants” and states:

The minister responsible for the temporary foreign worker program was told last year that employers were hiring temporary foreign workers in the same jobs and same locations as Canadians who were collecting employment insurance....

On May 29, 2012, the deputy minister for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada wrote a briefing note to the minister...which cited four examples in which there was deemed to be a “disconnect” between the temporary foreign worker and employment insurance programs.

The article goes on to say:

One example cited in the briefing note revealed that “in January 2012, Albertan employers received positive confirmation for 1,261...(Temporary Foreign Worker) positions for food counter attendants. At the same time, nearly 350 people made a claim for...[employment insurance] who had cited significant experience in the same occupation and province.”

The article goes on to say:

“Evidence suggests that, in some instances, employers are hiring temporary foreign workers in the same occupation and location as Canadians who are collecting EI...regular benefits”...

Last month, CBC reported that dozens of employees at RBC were losing their jobs to temporary foreign workers.

Earlier this year, two labour unions took [a mining company] to court, after the mining company hired more than 200 temporary foreign workers from China for its coal mine in northeastern B.C.

The article goes on to talk about labour market opinions:

Through an Access to Information request, CBC News received a 1000-page .pdf file that contained tables of labour market opinions that employers requested between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2012.

Because Human Resources and Skills Development Canada refused to provide tables in database format, CBC News converted the document to a spreadsheet to make it possible to search by company name and location.

That is just another example of how reluctant the government is to provide information in a format that allows Canadians to track how and where money is being spent or how results are or are not being achieved, as the case may be.

The article continues:

Alberta, as it turns out, is the top user of the temporary foreign worker program, according to a CBC News analysis of data from Human Resources Canada obtained through access to information.

Between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2012, the department issued nearly 60,000 labour market opinions. Employers submit these opinions to the minister when they can’t find Canadian workers for specific jobs.

Finally:

Critics have pointed out that in many instances, employers aren’t searching hard enough to find Canadian workers, especially in higher unemployment areas, a concern that seems to be suggested in the briefing note.

When it comes to matters such as the foreign qualification recognition process, what we actually need is a much broader context for how we are dealing with the labour market in Canada. It would seem that one of the roles the federal government could play is working in partnership with provincial and territorial governments to not only develop a plan to deal with some of these perceived critical labour shortages but also to take a look at how matches are made between the temporary foreign worker program and who is permitted to come into Canada.

In connection with initiatives that the federal government might want to undertake, there is another matter with respect to filling jobs in Canada. Again I want to emphasize that the immigration program is an important part of how Canada will fulfill some of its labour requirements, but there are other ways for Canada to take a look at the situation.

A Conference Board of Canada report from July 2012, entitled “Understanding the Value, Challenges, and Opportunities of Engaging Métis, Inuit, and First Nations Workers”, is an important document in terms of how Canada can look to filling its workforce requirements.

In the chapter summary under “The Role of Aboriginal Workers in the Canadian Economy”, it states:

In the years ahead, Canada faces the challenge of not having enough workers with the right skills and experience to meet its labour needs. Canada’s Aboriginal population is the fastest-growing population cohort in Canada, and could play a significant role in helping the country meet its future labour market needs. However, the labour market participation of Canada's Aboriginal population lags behind that of the non-Aboriginal population.

It goes on:

Several factors affect the labour market participation of Aboriginal people: their geographic location; lower educational attainment; and language and cultural issues.

In the context of the foreign qualification recognition process, this is an important piece, because it sets a context for what Canada would be facing in terms of its labour force requirements.

The report further states:

Canada’s economic development and ongoing prosperity depends on having a strong and skilled workforce.

New Democrats would agree with that statement. In terms of our economy, our innovation and our ability to compete both nationally and internationally, it is absolutely critical that we have that skilled workforce.

The Conference Board of Canada goes on to state:

In the coming years, however, Canada is unlikely to have enough workers with the right skills to meet its labour needs. Falling fertility rates and longer lifespans are aging Canada’s workforce at an accelerating rate. The result is not enough younger workers to replace those who are retiring. Further, many businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and hire qualified workers. This is particularly true in areas with small populations but high demand for skills, such as in Western and Northern Canada where primary industries such as oil and gas, and mineral extraction are flourishing.

Previous research from The Conference Board of Canada concludes that “the now-imminent prospect of declining workforce growth represents a real threat and limit to our future well-being unless there are significant improvements in productivity and increasing technological innovation.”

The report goes on to say that there are a number of potential solutions to address Canada's looming labour shortage: first, raise the rate of natural population increase; second, increase immigration; and third, increase the number of mature workers engaged in the workforce.

Because it was dealing specifically with first nations, Metis and Inuit, there a couple of challenges that the report identified, as well as a couple of solutions.

The report identified some of the top challenges of hiring aboriginal workers as similar to those faced when attracting aboriginal workers: lack of qualifications, formal documentation, or certification; skill levels of new hires too low; lack of work experience; differences in expectations between workers and employer; and worker reluctance to move to a job site away from their community.

One part of this particular list of challenges relates to the foreign worker qualification process, in that the issues around formal documentation and certification come up over and over again, as well as the recognition of credentials. There is an important overlap in some of these recommendations.

As well, the report looked at some recommendations and strategies for the successful engagement of aboriginal workers. It said that a couple of things need to be in place. The tools and strategies employers most commonly use to recruit aboriginal workers are:

...advertising; local employment centres; educational institutions; community organizations; band or treaty organizations; internships or job placement programs; and Aboriginal labour market development organizations.

The report gave the example of ASETS agreement holders.

There are some tools and techniques that employers currently use, but there is no great mechanism to share those and there is no mechanism to make sure that some of the programs and services that the government is currently funding are working with employer organizations to ensure the outcomes that we all hope for.

Businesses use a variety of programs, tools and strategies to motivate and retain Aboriginal workers, including Aboriginal-friendly workplace programs and/or policies, learning and development opportunities, competitive compensation and benefits, providing time for Aboriginal workers to participate in seasonal or traditional activities, and mentorship programs.

Of course, a number of those require funding, which again, is not there consistently.

Businesses see the following positive impacts most frequently from successfully employing Aboriginal workers: Aboriginal workers acting as role models in their communities, better relationships and integration with the local community, improved employee equity and inclusion, and economic benefits to the community.

What is really important is that there are economic benefits both to the first nations community and to Canadians as a whole because, as I mentioned earlier and as the Conference Board of Canada and other organizations have pointed out, that Canada's contribution in terms of its productivity and its innovation rely on having a trained and skilled workforce available.

The fact that we have had these issues with temporary foreign workers continues to speak to the lack of leadership at the government level around a strategy to deal with the ongoing skills shortages that we have known about ever since we identified the baby boom cohort and knew that they were going to retire. Part of the government answer to this, of course, is to force seniors into working longer and moving the retirement age from 65 to 67. That is hardly a plan to deal with skill shortages in Canada.

There were a couple of things in the foreign qualification recognition process report that are important to note. One is that there was a forum of labour market ministers, the FLMM, co-chaired by the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, which was given the task of developing a framework agreement. This new Canadian framework for the assessment and recognition of foreign qualifications is called the pan-Canadian framework.

The FLMM decided to give priority to certain specific regulated occupations for implementation of the pan-Canadian framework in the initial stages of this agreement, in the first three years. The pan-Canadian framework has been in place for a number of years but needs long-term attention, because these problems are not easily fixed overnight.

According to the pan-Canadian framework, the standard of timely assessment had to be implemented in the following eight occupations by December 31, 2010: architects, engineers, financial auditors and accountants, medical laboratory technologists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and registered nurses.

The second implementation phase of the pan-Canadian framework provided for the application of the timely assessment standard in the following six occupations by the end of December 2012: dentists, engineering technicians, licensed practical nurses, medical radiation technologists, physicians and teachers from kindergarten to grade 12.

When we read the list of occupations that are noted as priorities in this pan-Canadian framework, one has to wonder how the federal government is working with provinces and territories to ensure that we are developing a plan to address some of these priority occupations for the foreign credential recognition process. One wonders what is happening with colleges and universities, with employers and with other stakeholders in making sure we are looking at training Canadians who can also take those jobs.

I have to admit that I was a little surprised to hear that teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 were on this list. I wonder how we are working interprovincially in this area. There may be teachers who are available but are unable to take jobs in their own provinces. I wonder what kind of process is in place to address that scenario.

In response to a couple of problems that witnesses identified, New Democrats put forward a different recommendation, recommendation 4. The NDP's dissenting opinion states:

A number of witnesses underscored the importance of starting the FQR process in the country of origin by issuing more certificates and licences to [internationally-trained individuals] before they come to Canada so that they are a step ahead of the game when they land. Others stated that for some occupations, such as pharmacy, there are online self-assessment tools that enable individuals to take examinations outside of Canada and obtain immediate feedback. Still others suggested Canada should go further and allow regulatory authorities to narrow the selection before ITIs land. Another suggestion was to incorporate a prequalification system into the immigration process.

Part of the problem that comes up here is that although there have been improvements in the information that is available to people who are coming to Canada hoping to have their qualifications recognized, I think we have all too often heard the horror stories about highly qualified individuals taking jobs that are not within the occupation they trained for. In my own riding I had a conversation with a young man who was an engineer. His experience before coming to Canada was that, first of all, the information he received about recognition of his qualifications in Canada was absolutely inadequate. He was led to believe something that turned out not to be true once he arrived in Canada.

Therefore, there are a couple of things. One piece is to make sure that people have good access to information before they make the decision to come to Canada based on their occupation. The second piece is wherever possible—and it is not always possible—to allow for a process to assess those qualifications prior to making that move.

Nothing is more disappointing to people than to come to Canada after having spent many years being trained in a particular occupation to find out that they cannot work here. Often that is a very big personal decision for the whole family. People come here expecting to take part in a lifestyle that simply is not going to be available to them because they end up being underemployed. Of course, we have heard that in some places we have highly trained people driving taxi, which is an honourable profession, but if one has been trained as an engineer or a physician or in some other occupation, one hopes to come to Canada and practise it.

One of the things that came before committee is an example that other countries are using. Australia has a pre-arrival qualification practice, and for the most part, Australia approaches the foreign qualification recognition the same way as Canada: employers, regulatory bodies and institutions are the entities that recognize the qualification of internationally-trained individuals. It also says that that people are fully screened before they come.

The New Democrats thought that this was an important matter to bring before the House, particularly in light of what is happening with the temporary foreign worker program, as well as in first nations, Metis and Inuit communities where we have young, capable, eager people who just need access to skills and training so that they can take part in the modern economy.

I would encourage members to take a hard look at this report to see where Canada could do better in terms of improving access to the labour market for both Canadians and immigrants who wish to come here and take part in the labour market.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for her substantive remarks on the question of foreign credential recognition, although I must admit a certain degree of skepticism about her motive when she suggests it was because of the urgency of this issue as opposed to merely a dilatory effort to delay government business.

Is the member aware that we have made an investment of over $30 million in the Foreign Credentials Referral Office to offer pre-arrival information through the Canadian immigration integration project delivered by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges in such places as Seoul, Manila, Beijing, New Delhi, London, England and elsewhere?

Is she aware that some 80% of our selected economic immigrants have access to a free two-day seminar and personalized counselling on how to find employment and pre-apply for their credential recognition from the relevant Canadian professional bodies?

Would she agree with our recently instituted mandatory requirement that applicants for our federal skilled worker program submit an assessment of their education done by a designated expert agency in international education?

Would she agree with our expressed intention to adopt the Australian approach of a mandatory pre-assessment of credentials by the relevant licensing bodies at the national level to essentially replicate the pre-screening that Australia does for foreign trained professionals applying for immigration?

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, what we would support is ensuring that when people immigrate to Canada, they are able to work in their chosen profession and whatever can be done to facilitate that is a step in the right direction. As always, we need to consider the implications, when we implement mandatory systems, to ensure we do not o short-circuit something that would be of benefit to Canada.

As well, I did not get a chance to talk about issues like the bridging programs and other supports for people once they come to Canada, but those are also very important elements of what needs to happen when we have workers come into Canada.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, immigrant credentials and their recognition of them has been an issue for many years. When I was first elected, it was one of the first resolutions in which I had the opportunity to debate, and that goes back to the late 1980s.

If we want to deal with immigrant credentials and get them recognized, there has to be more of a holistic approach that includes and goes far beyond just the federal government being engaged, but there is no doubt the federal government has a leadership role to play in it.

We need to get the different stakeholders, whether it is our educational institutions, our labour force, in particular unions, different levels of government and other stakeholders to come to the table, to recognize that individuals who come from foreign countries do in fact have the abilities and the credentials. Where we can, we have to take down the barriers that do not allow those legitimate credentials to be recognized.

I am interested in my colleague's comments on that assertion.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, there is a very real cost for non-recognition. A study carried out in 2001 stated that the cost of non-recognition of qualifications acquired outside of Canada was between $4.1 billion and $5.9 billion a year. When we talk about foreign credential recognition, this also includes Canadians who have gone abroad to get a credential and then have come back to Canada hoping to practise their particular profession.

The member is absolutely correct. What this file requires is federal leadership, but also working very closely with provinces and territories. In many cases, it is provincial organizations that actually implement the mechanisms to recognize credentials. Therefore, it is very important that there is this working together across levels of government, but the federal government must take leadership on this issue.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I come from Hamilton and our community is blessed with a very rich and diverse newcomer community. However, one of the jokes that goes around Hamilton, and sadly it is not very funny, is that the best place for women to have a baby in Hamilton is in a taxi cab because we have so many doctors in our community who are driving cabs instead of doing the job for which they have been trained.

I listened to the member's speech with great interest. She is very eloquent and right in her analysis of what needs to be done to make it possible for foreign trained professionals to succeed in Canada. The loss of their skills is a loss to our whole community. Certainly, it is to them and their families, but it is also a lost to our community and indeed to our whole country.

Canada kind of engages in false advertising when it comes to the recognition of credentials. We give people extra points because of their academic qualifications and because of their language skills. We encourage them to come here with their families and once they get here, we point the finger at the provincial governments and say that they have not done enough and it is their fault that folks are unable to get jobs here.

Could the member comment, once again, on how important it is that we do not engage in that kind of false advertising and that we provide real and meaningful support to newcomers so they can excel and help us build the Canadian economy?

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Hamilton Mountain is absolutely correct. It is a complete waste of human resources when we say to people who want to come to Canada that we are opening our door to them. At least we used to open our door to them, but under the current government's policy branch, it is slamming doors all over the place when it comes to immigration. We tell people to come to Canada, that it is a great place to live and to work. They may have spent 8, 10, or 12 years in their profession acquiring the skills, the knowledge and ability to the job, but when they come to Canada we do not let them use those skills, knowledge and ability.

I cannot imagine what it must be like for families that come to Canada with the expectation they will be able to practise their profession only to find out they will have to spend years in order to requalify, for whatever reasons. One of the things that many people do not recognize is that when immigrants come to Canada, they are not automatically eligible for a Canada student loan, for example. Therefore, there often is not the financial wherewithal to get the training they need.

Canadians want to ensure that people who are practising their profession are skilled. They need the qualifications. Everyone agrees with that piece, but this is about the expectations we create when we are not clear with people about what it will take for them to practise in our country.