First of all, I'd underscore the imposition of the right-of-landing fee by the previous government in 1995, which was $975 or $985 on each adult permanent resident. It was a very heavy burden for a lot of newcomer families, people who often have limited means, and it imposed an immediate financial burden and handicap on them upon their arrival, which is why our government followed through on a commitment to cut the right-of-landing fee in half. As I underscored, that has saved newcomers over $300 million, collectively, since 2006, over $180 million alone for newcomers settling in Ontario. But in addition, from 1993 to 2005, federal settlement funding was essentially flat, so in real terms it was declining year after year. The only place it was going up was Quebec.
When we came to office, we said this was not working for the provinces that were struggling with settlement costs. Those same provinces, by the way, had to undergo about 20% or 25% cuts in federal transfers to the provinces in the mid-1990s for things like health care and higher education.