Thank you very much, Ms. Yip. And it is nice to see you as well.
I would just begin by saying that this is an announcement that builds on our immigration plan, which I tabled a little more than two weeks ago. That immigration plan is very much focused on meeting the needs of our economy, including in some very important sectors like our health care sector, where we have doctors and nurses and pharmacists who have been working around the clock. We believe that through the initiative announced last week, we will be able to tap into the skills, experience and talent that exist in Hong Kong to provide a flexible work permit, and then we hope they will make the transition to a fast-tracked permanent residency through one of the two streams.
I believe this is a real opportunity. We hope there will be young Hong Kongers who will want to come to Canada to contribute. This initiative is also in keeping with the long-standing people-to-people ties between Canada and the people of Hong Kong.