Mr. Speaker, visa free access for Hong Kong people is very good news for Canada and for Hong Kong.
More than 100,000 Canadian people live in Hong Kong. More than 500,000 Canadians living in Canada have come from Hong Kong. Every year Canada has more than 200,000 visitors from Hong Kong. They come here for business, to visit family or for tourism.
After the assurances we received from the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese government, it was very important that we were able to maintain the visa free access. That is very good news for everyone.