Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
To address the first point, one reason I think it's relevant to draw attention to the total intake as I've defined it is that all of those streams are for permanent residency, or else lead to permanent residency. The live-in caregiver program, as you know, leads to permanent residency if the terms of the visa are respected. Now with the Canadian experience class, the same applies to qualified visa holders of student and temporary foreign worker visas. So that total number, last year in the range of half a million, represents either actual future permanent residents or potential permanent residents.
You've raised a very important question...and obviously I did have more than one line about the economy in my remarks. It's the greatest preoccupation for all of us. Let me say, first of all, that most other developed countries have already announced cuts, and significant cuts, in their immigration intake levels for 2009 because of the economic situation. Canada stands alone in having announced its intention to maintain the same planning levels for permanent residents. We are looking mid- to long-term. We believe that when we reach the recovery, we will have to face the labour market reality that we'll need newcomers to help fuel the jobs of the future.
That said, we will closely monitor the labour market developments this year. My deputy minister will be meeting with his provincial colleagues at the end of March to review the economic data and to see if we need to make modifications to reflect the emerging labour market situation.
Finally, let me agree with you, Mr. Bevilacqua, that we need to be concerned about the effects of the recession, not just on long-term Canadians but on newcomers. That's one of the reasons we're investing a whole lot more in settlement programming and in giving some people a head start.
I was just in India visiting the Canadian immigration and integration project, a new program funded through our foreign credential referral office, which is actually giving newcomers a head start on both credential recognition and job placement. I actually met people who had secured job offers from overseas. We'd like to expand that program, and we intend to do so in the year ahead.
There is no doubt that newcomers, like all Canadians, will have a tougher time this year. I suspect that some people will take that into consideration in their decisions on whether or not to actually use the visas we're offering them to come here as skilled foreign workers.