Mr. Speaker, I understand why the member opposite is so defensive, because it did come into effect under his government, and, as we have seen, it did have significant problems.
Obviously, we do recognize the value of the temporary foreign worker program in its reformed state, which is why we are reforming it, and not getting rid of it. There are obviously regions in this country that rely upon it and it has helped out significantly in those regions. What we are doing now is ensuring that compliance is done appropriately and that the government has effective penalties and fines in place for those who chose to abuse the program.
Here are some more of the reforms that we have made to the program.
We will introduce fees for employers for the processing of LMIAs and increase the fees for work permits so that taxpayers are no longer subsidizing the cost of the program. We will ensure that employers who rely upon temporary foreign workers have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over the long term because too many businesses have, as part of their business models, relied on this program. We want to ensure there is a transition in place so that they can transition to a Canadian workforce over time. We are suspending the accelerated labour market opinion process, and we are prohibiting employers who request an LMIA from requesting a non-official language as a requirement of the job.
We think these are very important changes and reforms to the program. It will continue to be an important program, especially for those regions of the country that rely upon it.