Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

[English]

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

We all understand that the national cap on study permit applications was designed to address the rapid increase of international students in Canada, and measures and the allocations have been communicated to provincial and territorial governments with regard to 2024.

The national cap is based on the amount of expiring student permits this year. That means that the number of international students coming to Canada in 2024 should be the same as the number of students whose permits expire this year. For this year, the target is 485,000 approved study permits.

My understanding, senator, is that the distribution of the study permits is based upon the population share of each province and territory. Inevitably, under this model, some territories and provinces will get more students than last year, while others will find fewer students approved.