Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It was an interesting presentation. I'm intrigued by the level of detail you're speaking to in terms of what all three of you think the federal government needs to do. If I take a look back over the last, I guess, close to four years.... Just recently we announced $50 million over the next two years for the provinces and territories to work and address these barriers in terms of a pan-Canadian framework, including a recognition of foreign qualifications.
Amy, you mentioned the Canadian Experience program, which is very helpful to students.
From a temporary worker perspective, I also think about the opportunities that they are engaged with, to stay in the country and work here. We've gone from 120,000 to 200,000 on a yearly basis, to the point of literally setting records in terms of those numbers. Also, with respect to how many folks have had the opportunity to come to this country as landed immigrants or to be educated here, the numbers we're seeing now year after year are higher than we've seen in decades.
I think a little bit about the detail that you spoke to, Elizabeth. I think of C-50, section 6, which we passed in 2007. That really does change our immigration policy with respect to landed immigrants and the opportunities folks have from a very early stage to understand, if they're going to apply to come to this country, what we need in terms of the 38 categories that we announced last November for this year. That has actually allowed us to expedite the opportunities for individuals who want to come to this country who are having to wait six, seven, or eight years to get into Canada. The way it's set up now will expedite that to 12 to 18 months. The minister was just here a couple of weeks ago saying that we've actually been able to get our numbers down and we're moving in the right direction.
Ms. Chow reminded me of The Employee's Roadmap.
All of these are a step in the right direction, and I think the investments we've made in English as a second language and in English language training.... I guess what made me think of all of these programs that we've worked on since 2006 is--as I started this point, and I do have a couple of questions--the fact that you're really into significant detail in terms of where we need to be. So it suggests to me that from an overall perspective.... Part of the reason why we wanted to do this study was to ask where are the areas that we need to emphasize, where are the areas that we need to focus on. I come away from it, just from our first panel, with an understanding that we have made some significant steps in the right direction, and that really where we need to go is, perhaps as you suggest, in some of the levels of detail.
I did want to ask you, Elizabeth.... We have gathered the provinces together to work towards the recognition of foreign credentials, and I wondered if you could comment a little bit .ore on the whole aspect of a national approach to this issue versus an individual provincial and individual territorial approach to it?