Thank you.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is proposing to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow IRCC to set permanent residencies in a timely manner. More specifically, these amendments would exempt IRCC from the requirements set out under the proposed service fees act for the processing of our permanent residence applications, permanent resident cards, and permanent resident travel documents, as well as the right of permanent residence fee. These amendments would provide IRCC more flexibility in the management of its fees considering the unique nature of our clientele, and also in relation to the processing continuum, which includes several delivery partners for our immigration business lines.
It is important to note that the permanent residence fees have not been reviewed since 2002. As a result, Canadians are subsidizing an important portion of the cost of processing these applications. Despite these amendments, IRCC will still respect the spirit of the act by consulting some of its clientele, as appropriate, via the regulatory process. We'll also establish service standards by business lines. We will continue to report on service standards and costs via the departmental plan.
We will also respect the legislative framework around fees, such as the Financial Administration Act, which stipulates that we cannot charge more than the cost of processing a service. More importantly, we also will ensure that our fees remain competitive with those of other countries, such as the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. This is important, especially in the context of increasing levels, to make sure that we are competitive and that we can still attract immigrants to Canada.
My colleague and I are now happy to take questions from the committee.