Hon. Seamus O’Regan, P.C., M.P., Minister of Labour: Senator, I thank you for the question. Sometimes my title belies more jurisdiction than I actually have. By way of accuracy, as a minister per se, this would not fall under my jurisdiction. However, as a minister of the Crown, I take account for the decisions that are made at the table. Would I have some say in this? I absolutely will take responsibility for that.

The government does recognize the importance of the temporary foreign workers. They are extremely important to food producers and processors. A number of departments have been working to simplify the processes to make sure we facilitate the safe entry of many of the workers who are there. We are getting our heads around working with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Immigration and with my colleague Minister Qualtrough at Employment Services on how we deal with this.

We do not want people to be vulnerable and not protected in this country when they perform such important work.

Hon. Seamus O’Regan, P.C., M.P., Minister of Labour: I appreciate the question, senator. The key is always in the qualifying phrase: respecting the fact that this is provincial jurisdiction.

I am a product — my first job, I worked for five years in the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador. When I came into the Ministry of Natural Resources, my Alberta colleague at the time Sonya Savage schooled me immediately on what is in provincial jurisdiction and what is in federal jurisdiction. But I knew darn well, having been around in Hibernia’s early days, but also in areas like health, that you tread into those places very carefully.

I think that what we are seeing happening right now with the quantum that has been proposed by the Prime Minister to the premiers and as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs goes about bilateral agreements and working with each province, I think I have to be very careful about what I say.

But I can tell you that given the dearth of health care professionals right now in the system, how we figure out how people can move around within this country and how we recognize foreign credentials are some of the absolute top priorities as I sit down at the table.