Finance committee  Yes. It's a regional processing centre here in Atlantic Canada, based out of Saint John, New Brunswick. You send in an application, and right now, you don't know who is going to be reviewing that application. It might be a new person who was just trained. I would recommend that

Finance committee  It's a great question. Thank you. It is a hard life. You leave and, if you're based out of Atlantic Canada, you are not back home for physical contact with kids or family for probably four to six days. Technology is a wonderful thing, and there's the ability to Skype, to FaceTim

Finance committee  Why should a long-haul truck driver be considered a skilled worker, as opposed to a low-skilled worker? In my paper, I presented a lot of reasons why. It's not just getting a licence and going down the road. There are ongoing certifications, ongoing medical examinations, ongoing

Finance committee  That is correct, yes.

Finance committee  There definitely needs to be a review of the temporary foreign worker program. The bottlenecks that are created now in the process are just astounding. We probably do about two or three applications a year for 25 unnamed positions. While the payment from us is received generally

Finance committee  No, he is a permanent resident. He renews his permanent resident card every five or seven years. I'm not sure which it is; I think it's five years.

Finance committee  He has not become a Canadian citizen yet. I haven't asked him why. I know there are some barriers in that whole process as it relates to the long-haul truck drivers who exit Canada for trucking purposes—the number of days they're required to be in Canada to get that citizenship.

Finance committee  Yes. There is a definite shortage. We need drivers to keep the Canadian economy moving. I am a first-generation Canadian, as well. My parents immigrated from Holland in 1954. When I got into the transport industry in 2000 and started into this program in 2004, I saw the need, def

Finance committee  This is correct, yes.

Finance committee  Yes, that's correct. What we find—and as far as I'm aware, this does exist in one of the provinces across Canada now—is that when the individuals come in on NOC level C, which is low-skilled worker, temporary foreign worker program, they are able to obtain their work permit immed

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to present to you here today. As mentioned, my name is Mike Schut. I'm the vice-president of administration and human resources with Bulk Carriers. With me is Tyson Kelly, the vice-president of operations and general