That is kind of a two-pronged question. One of the things, obviously, that would come with it there is that if the individual is coming over for an industry, if the person has been defined as having been working as an engineer for the last 10 years, or working in food service for the last 10 years, he or she should have the ability to work within that industry. Obviously that's what the person has been defined as. Recruiters have spent their time, companies have spent their time, the embassy has spent its time defining this person's background as being in food service. So if there's a need for food service, we could have that person come over and work within an industry.
On the idea about the fair compensation, it's very true. For levels 0, A, and B, there is no fee that the employer has to pay in order to bring the person over. They may choose to pay a fee, as they would in the case with Daniel, and follow up like that, but they don't have to.
For NOC C and D, which would be low-skill workers like our workers, the regulation is that you have to pay return airfare and you must pay the cost of recruitment. Where the unfair advantage is coming up is that now—we're seeing this more with the oil and gas industry, construction, and manufacturing—they are waiting for low-skill workers to come to Canada who are not in their industry, driving up to the local McDonald's, the local Tim Hortons, the local A & W, and saying, “You're 10 workers; instead of getting paid $10 or $12 an hour, why don't you guys come and work for us at $25 an hour?”
It's an easier and quicker pathway for them. The problem is that Service Canada says, “Freedom of information rules prevent us from telling you where those workers are going.” So right now, there's no way to get recruitment for the first employer who brought the people over and spent the cost.
On average, if you're looking at a store owner spending, let's say, $3,000 for airfare and recruitment for 10 workers, that's $30,000 about which Service Canada and CIC are just expecting that store owner to say, “Oh well, it's gone. Forget about it.” That's a big investment for somebody to have, and as I say, right now you get some people in the industry who are in lower positions, who are turning around and saying, “Why should I do it legally? Why should I do it correctly? If I do it illegally, I don't have to spend any money to get these people over here, and if I lose them, so what?”
That's the wrong message to be sending.