Citizenship and Immigration committee  We'll know more later this week. We'll get details of the agreement with the new company for services in Quebec late this afternoon or tomorrow morning. We are hopeful that this will go much better than with Switch Health.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My comment is along the same lines as the previous comments, the permit should be for at least two years. There could also be a simplified renewal process when the same worker returns to work for the same company. If we want to keep track of the number of workers, a simplified pr

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What I'd like to see is an increase in the number of years. In other words, the LMIAs and work permits should be valid for two, three or five years. There should be a way to streamline the process used to control the movement of temporary foreign workers, especially in the agric

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. We shared it with them, too. The working group was mandated to simplify the form.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, absolutely. Currently, producers offer these workers training. For pesticide management, for example, workers are trained to handle these products safely. When they're working on dairy, hog or other farms, they get training on how to handle animals safely. So it would be go

Citizenship and Immigration committee  When you factor in all the costs incurred by the farmers and the time workers have to wait to get to the work site, that amount doesn't cover all the expenses. Isolation must also be considered, because workers must be isolated in bubbles. So we're even more surprised by the ann

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct. When these programs began, the intent was to ensure that the workers didn't take jobs away from Quebec or Canadian workers. It was perfectly legitimate. Today, because of the unemployment rate in our regions, there are no employees available for jobs on farms. E

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. In fact, this is already done, but workers have to have a second permit to work in a business in another agricultural sector. Again, some automatism should be possible. We believe that workers who come back year after year should be able to benefit from a program similar to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Actually, producers already have their hands full with all the administrative burden they have to deal with today. It's not just about labour, but also health, the environment and many things. For those producers who have to deal with this burden, they are very happy to be able t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In conclusion, I would say that farm workers are absolutely essential, and they must be taken into consideration by all federal departments and agencies.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  These programs need to be simplified.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Marcel Groleau, and I am the general president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, or UPA, which represents Quebec’s 29,000 farms. Joining me is Denis Roy, an immigration consultant at the UPA. From

Finance committee  I would like to answer Mr. Kelly's question. First, the situation is a bit different in the agricultural sector because of the assets' value compared with the return on assets. In agriculture, the rule is that $6 to $7 must be invested to generate $1 of income, while in commerce

Finance committee  In Quebec, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole provides data on this issue. All that is documented in municipal registries. We are seeing that an increasing number of transactions involving farmland are carried out by investors rather than by producers. This means

Finance committee  As noted in the presentation, 40% of small family businesses will be transferred in the next few years, based on the average age of the owners. These businesses represent $50 billion in assets. Usually, when a farm business is transferred to the next generation, the tax savings