Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct, Mr. Chairman. I think the minister has mentioned on a couple of occasions that absent any particular problems that we can't foresee, her intention would be to focus on the federal economic class.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Fundamentally, this is what the legislation will do, assuming that Parliament accepts it. For applications received after February 27, the minister will be able to tell the department which particular applications or category of applications we have to process first. That's a capacity we do not have now.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There were fewer people intending to stay, that's correct.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't know about the statistics for 2007.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There were fewer permanent residents coming in, not fewer people.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The reason is that in the last three years the number of temporary foreign workers who came to Canada increased by about 30%. We have the same officers dealing with both temporary foreign workers and permanent resident applications. Since they're just-in-time applications, we deal with them first.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't doubt you; I just don't remember the numbers. But I don't think we saw a drop in 2007.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct. One reason is the additional security measures that we've put in place. In the case of 10 new countries, since April 1 we've been requiring additional checks from CSIS and CBSA. This does take time.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, in Beijing I think we're already there.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In detail, no, I can't, but the fraud rate for that part of the world is in some cases over 50%. It takes a long time to work through these applications and to make sure that the people we want are the people we're getting.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I actually—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's getting worse in large parts of the world. This is a very popular country to come to, and other countries are taking—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I am taking absolutely no note of whether the Conservatives or the Liberals are in office. It is irrelevant to me.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We've added 10 countries to the requirement—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I know, but you asked me a question and I'm trying to answer it. We've added 10 countries since April 1 to the list of applicants, which has to be submitted to the security agencies—