Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is, as was mentioned, a new category that was created in 2008, under which workers who come into the country temporarily, after a certain period of time—I think it's three years—can apply for permanent status without having to leave the country before coming back in. As well, there are international students.
This was brought in, of course, so that once those people were here, we wouldn't lose them by making them go back home and reapply. We found that the analysis regarding the introduction of this was very well done. There were considerations of various options. There was a good assessment done, and we could tell that there was a lot of thought given to this category before it was implemented. This is the type of analysis we would have liked to see more broadly.
We point this out as a very good example that we think can be applied more broadly. The department can obviously do it.