Having revealed that it will look to welcome 300,000 immigrants in 2018, the Canadian immigration minister has now revealed he would like to increase this intake by 13 per cent by 2020.
This would mean that within three years, Canada’s annual immigrant intake will have risen by 40,000 people.
“The increase is to meet Canada’s ever-growing demand labour,” explained the country’s Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen. “We will continue to wisely use immigration as a tool to power our economy. The multi-year planning will ensure predictability and stability for provinces and cities to plan ahead and do their parts.”
The plan will bring the country’s yearly immigration level to 0.9 per cent of the population, up slightly from its current 0.8 per cent level, in order to offset the economic effects of an aging population and low birth rate.
“If we are going to be able to keep our commitments for health care and pensions and all our social programs and to continue to grow our economy and meet our labour market needs in the decades to come, we must respond to this clear demographic challenge,” Hussen added.
In its 2018-to-2020 plan, the government has put an emphasis on highly skilled immigrants, who will make up more than 40 per cent of all economic class immigrants in the next three years.
However, the 2020 target still falls far short of the 450,000-level recommended by the federal government’s own economic advisory council.
Article published 2nd November 2017