Thank you.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.
My question is for you, Mr. Pagtakhan.
When you last appeared before the committee on Bill C-24, you were generally in support of that bill. However, you disagreed with the failure to allow certain parts of that time outside of Canada to count as time inside Canada for the purpose of residency calculation. You said you believed that time spent outside of Canada by a permanent resident employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business should be counted as time in Canada.
I know that you're an immigration lawyer, and some of your experience is with issues you've had with business individuals who came as a permanent resident and established themselves here. Their families might have received citizenship, but due to their working overseas, they're unable to then obtain citizenship.
Could you share some of your experiences and maybe give us some examples, and can you share with us some of your suggestions on how to deal with that issue?