I have a question. This is fine with me, but the bill does say that the insurance company has to be approved by the minister. Could this be a little bit more succinct? I don’t have a problem with it, but maybe it could just be more succinct — or we can leave it just the way it is.

I wasn’t either.

I’m Jane Cordy. I’m a senator from Nova Scotia. Welcome.

[Translation]

Thank you very much for being here today. Senator Kutcher and I are on the Fisheries Committee, my inclination is to first talk about the stocks of fish and all that kind of thing. Forgive me if I go over the line a little bit.

It’s interesting to look at your statistics. I’m from Nova Scotia, from Atlantic Canada, and the fisheries sector is very important there. We have had the biggest influx of population — I shouldn’t say since I don’t know historically — in my lifetime. We now have over a million people in Nova Scotia. The numbers have been staying relatively stable in Nova Scotia, but we now have a significant input.

The challenges, of course, are the points that you raised. First of all, it’s the rural area, which is a good lifestyle and all of that, a lower cost for housing and so on, but the challenge is that people who are immigrating to Nova Scotia — I’ll speak just about Nova Scotia — tend to want to go to the more populated areas. I’m not quite sure how we deal with that aspect of it.

The aging population is another one. In Nova Scotia, the population is aging, and I think that’s true all over Atlantic Canada. How do we encourage our younger people to go into the fishing industry? Those would be my two questions.

You spoke about the path to permanent residency being made easier. How do you see the government doing that? That is something that the federal government can do.

What percentage of the temporary foreign workers who do come to Canada actually want permanent residency? I know a lot in the farming industry come to Nova Scotia, and their intent is just to stay for the planting and harvesting. In the fishing industry, what percentage wants to stay permanently?

That’s okay. Thank you.