I definitely see the situations you've just spoken of, in which parents and grandparents make a huge contribution to child care, but also to cooking at home and having meals ready, given the long hours that many parents are working. Our notion of lifespan now is to 100, and we're looking at increased ages in the labour market for all of us. My own father is 80, an engineer, and doesn't plan to retire until he's unable to continue. My mother-in-law as well, at 80, is very active. She would be someone who would fit into the super visa category, going back and forth. I think she has a huge contribution to make to her grandchildren, maintaining the culture, and to our family's economy when she's here visiting just by maintaining our home life while we're out in the labour market. She's also very involved in the community, sharing her culture with other seniors and she really wants to contribute here, even as a visitor.
New Brunswick is the canary in the coal mine. Our country's average age is increasing. Atlantic Canada is seeing it first, but it's coming. The year 2030 is the year “Knowledge Matters” gave as to when all new population growth in the country would come through immigration.
We need to find ways to expedite the system. I've seen it work better. We're always told that we can't be sure of the delay in the secondary country, but sometimes the processing there is actually faster.