Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of residents in Lillooet, British Columbia. More and more small business owners are being forced to significantly reduce their services or shut down entirely due to labour shortages. Last year, Statistics Canada reported that there were an overwhelming one million job vacancies across the country.
Residents are calling for more action to address labour shortages, particularly by including the community of Lillooet in the northern immigration pilot project so that it can attract more workers to the region. Small towns across the country, I will note, are all struggling with labour shortages.