Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Witnesses and colleagues, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. I'm pinch-hitting for Mr. Lamoureux. My questions will not be nearly as well informed or well formed as they would be if Mr. Lamoureux were in this chair, so please, everyone, just bear with me. It'll be over in five minutes or less.
I also haven't had the benefit of hearing your presentations, because as soon as I sat down, Kevin got in my ear and said, “Ask them this and this and this”. So if it comes out clumsily, that's why. My apologies in advance.
Mr. Thomson, I understand that your presentation was dedicated in part to the provincial nominee program. I'm from Prince Edward Island. The provincial nominee program has been a huge success in my little province in terms of really galvanizing the province against the effects of the recession, because of the huge influx of capital, but also, in a very short period of time, by diversifying our population. It has been a huge success. I don't know this, but I fully expect that the benefits that we've seen in Prince Edward Island would be those that would be sought after and very popular across the rest of the country.
I guess my question for you is this. Given what I've witnessed in terms of what good has come from that program in my little part of the world, what's happening in the rest of the country in terms of the uptake on this program? Also, what does it mean for the problem that we're discussing?