Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate. While most small businesses across Canada are experiencing labour shortages, New Brunswick is one of the hardest hit provinces, with 60% of small businesses unable to find enough staff. Employee shortages are found across many sectors in New Brunswick, most especially in construction, health care and transport.

Leader, last month’s Speech from the Throne did not mention the severe labour shortages in Canada, and Tuesday’s fiscal update only promised to bring forward a strategy next year. What are you doing to help businesses across New Brunswick which are dealing with labour shortages and need help now, not many years from now?

Hon. Rose-May Poirier: Leader, on Tuesday, my colleague Senator Ataullahjan raised with you the backlog of almost 1.8 million applications at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. As of October, this backlog contained over 775,000 applications for temporary residence including work permits. Businesses in New Brunswick and across Canada are asking the Trudeau government for help in filling their labour needs by improving and streamlining this process.

Leader, Tuesday’s fiscal update promised $85 million next year to process more applications but gave absolutely no details on how many applications are expected to be processed through this funding.

How long will it take to clear the current backlog in work permits, and how will the government simplify the approval process for temporary foreign workers?