It's a placement, but if a company manages to attract a student as a co-op employee, in our experience it becomes a “try before you buy” scenario for both the student and the company. The company has the ability to see that student in action and assess whether or not he or she will make a suitable full-time employee; the student has the opportunity to see what a career in that particular company would be like.
We see a stickiness factor emerge. A student who has had good co-op experiences in Ontario is far more likely to take a full-time job in Ontario, rather than sail off to Silicon Valley, Boston, or some other technology cluster.