Absolutely. That's the experience of several countries, not just Canada. If you want the brightest and best to build a strong country, you have to put the family at the front of the line, and you can't cherry-pick. A human being comes with family values, including a family unit, and the economics are crystal clear. When you bring in parents, you free up one of the Canadian spouses to enter the workforce, pay taxes, and do the child care duties.
It is a key concern for the brightest and best globally to know that their parents can come, not in ten years. Five years is normal. We got into the situation exactly because Immigration Canada hid the stats.
It's as predictable as rain that there are going to be 20,000 parents or grandparents applying to come to this country every year. When you lowball the quota, you inevitably build up an inventory. The way out today—and I canvassed external stakeholders—is to have parents who want to come here pony up the cost of entering medicare up front, lump sum. The families are willing to finance 15 years of premiums, lump sum, paid in advance. So there's a way to reduce the numbers and alleviate the tragedy of keeping parents in a position where they're going to see a coffin before they see a visa.