Thank you for the question.

There's a question that we all are familiar with, and that's the aging of our population. This situation is no different within the business community. A recent study demonstrated that out of 200,000 entrepreneurs, almost a third of them are over 55 years of age. They are already planning, if not already in the process, to transfer their businesses—all categories included.

Why is this? It's very simple. Previously in Canada, we had investor programs. These programs mainly gave opportunities to foreign nationals to invest in Canada for a number of years, and then at the end of the five-year period pick up their investment alongside their returns, and, as a token of appreciation, a Canadian passport. Then, they would leave.

What I'm proposing here, in all humbleness, is a program that will make sure that these new investor category immigrants will not come here just for the passport. They'll come here to settle and not only contribute from the day they come in, but also sustain and keep in place businesses, jobs, and moreover bring their know-how, knowledge and contribution to the regions.

The small and medium-sized business category is a very vibrant one. You all know that 80% of businesses are within that category. If we can come with a recommendation where we could give certain priority to this category of investor immigrants, not only would it help us to reshape the Canadian immigration policy and programs with this economic category, but also it will directly contribute to the regions.

Please let me say that when I propose this motion or idea, this project, it is not to the detriment of any of the other categories of our immigration policies. We need humanitarian, family reunion and refugee programs. This is in parallel to all of those existing programs. It is not to the detriment of existing programs. In reality, it is an addition.

I hope that my answer was clear, sir.

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