Sure.
We had an interesting review of the implementation of ministerial instructions within the department, which initially focused on the implementation of the first set of ministerial instructions. But as the work progressed, we actually put in place the second set of ministerial instructions. We were able to learn from the first set, in terms of adjustments with the second set.
What we found with the first set, using an occupational filter alone, was that by limiting the number of occupations under which individuals could apply to come to Canada we did have the intended effect of lowering the number of new applications we received. However, there were a couple of occupations on that first list where we found that applicants were able to tailor their credentials to meet the requirements of the occupation and we saw the numbers of applications grow quite exponentially.
This led us, with the second set of ministerial instructions, to imposing hard numerical caps. It's 20,000 new applications under the second set of ministerial instructions, with a subcap for each of the occupations underneath that, initially at 1,000. Then, with MI3, we've moved further to restricting new applications to 10,000, with a subcap of 500 for each application.
With these hard numerical caps, we've found the progress on backlog reductions and working through the first set of applications received under ministerial instructions one will be accelerated.