The changes to our family reunification program where we've capped applications at 5,000 per year and we've also instituted our 10-year multiple in and out visa—what we call the super visa—have really made a difference in terms of who gets into Canada and how families are supported. The changes have created a class bias. Families with money can afford the super visa. It is families at the middle income and lower who are not able to get their families in.
It's interesting. I pay attention to the family reunification application numbers and for the last two years, before the end of February, the 5,000 cap has been reached. We know there are many families who want to sponsor family members, grandparents, which goes back to the child care issue and women being able to participate fully in the labour market. Often parents and grandparents are the kinds of backbone supports that families need to be able to fully participate. They are also the cultural foundation of families.
If you look at China's one child policy, for example, in terms of the children being here, the parents being overseas, it means that the families are not able to fully concentrate on building their lives here in Canada, because they're having to support families overseas. We look at the economic implications of those kinds of things when we look at other communities in terms of remission and where dollars are spent. We can look at all of these kinds of social fallouts because of the kinds of changes we've made to our family reunification program.
It was good to hear Mr. Menegakis speak to the percentages. On the face of it, though, although family reunification is the cornerstone of Canada's immigration program, it only makes up 25%. I understand that. Principal applicants come with their families, their children and spouses, and those kinds of things, so I don't mean to pretend that isn't true, but we've certainly been moving away from the family as the cornerstone of our immigration program. I think that both anecdotally as well as research would show us that when immigrants have their families together, they do better socially and they do better economically.