Mr. Speaker, do you know how much the Prime Minister's ill-advised #WelcomeToCanada tweet has cost Canadian taxpayers? According to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, it has cost us $1.1 billion.
That billion dollars should have been used to shorten wait times for companies, like those in Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, hoping to legally bring in the foreign workers they so desperately need. Instead, wait times are exploding for those who follow the rules. Under the Liberals, the wait time has grown from 3 weeks to 24 weeks. That means nearly six months to confirm the obvious: the jobs are there, but there are not enough people to fill them. With unemployment at 2.4% in Chaudière-Appalaches, that is no surprise.
It is simple. Instead of spending tons of money on illegal migration, when will the Liberals stop penalizing companies by making them wait forever for following the rules?