That's a great question.
First of all, keeping programs like the global talent stream in operation is really essential. I'm not deaf. I'm listening to the conversation about the TFW program nationally, and of course, I have my personal views. think it would be a real tragedy if this particular program—the global talent stream—were a casualty of a broader backlash against the temporary foreign worker program, which I don't want to comment on more broadly than that.
Keep that channel open. In the grand scheme of things, it's quite a small component. As Daniel was saying, it's 2.6% overall. I think that translates to about 32,000 over the last 10-odd years. It's not a huge number, but these are all really critical folks at the end of the day. These folks are really enabling companies to take a leap to the next level and are going to unlock some kind of technological or industrial barrier for them, so we think that program is really critical.
Daniel mentioned two others. For the start-up visa program, we saw the rollout as quite troubled initially. There is a clear reason for that, which is that it was initially tied to permanent residency. You created what was essentially a very high reward for this program, and the amount of scrutiny that went into applications ensured that it was going to be a very slow process. It didn't really meet the standards of similar global programs, which meant that Canada wasn't really competitive.
What we've proposed is to keep that program, reform it a bit and ensure that it affords temporary status at first, with a pathway to permanent residency tied to outcomes. I think that would solve a lot of these issues, keep the backlog to a much more manageable level and volume of applications, and help attract more talent to Canada that is going to be building businesses in advanced industries.