Attracting immigrants in health care, skilled trades, manufacturing and technology are top priorities
While the plan was largely welcomed by industry and businesses, the big question is can Canada handle this level of immigration targets with a backlog, plus increasing housing and health care crises?
Canadian government has unveiled an immigration plan that will target to invite almost 500,000 immigrants every year for the next 3 years to deal with the labour shortage.
Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, released Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan this week. He said that the plan embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing and technology—to manage the social and economic challenges Canada will face in the decades ahead.
Last year Canada welcomed over 405,000 newcomers which was highest in single year. But the recent plan wants to break the record and has set a higher target.
The new levels plan is to attract 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. The plan also brings an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.
Immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canada’s labour force growth, and, by 2032, it’s projected to account for 100% of Canada’s population growth.
It is important to know why Canada needs immigration.
Canada has one of the world’s oldest populations and also one of the world’s lowest birth rates. According to the government, Canada’s aging population means that the worker-to-retiree ratio is expected to shift from 7 to 1 50 years ago to 2 to 1 by 2035.
As a result, Canada has been increasing its immigration levels since the late 1980s to increase its rate of population, labour force, and economic growth.
During the 2021 Census, nearly 1 in 4 people counted were or had been a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada, the highest proportion since Confederation and the largest proportion among G7 countries.
Just over 1.3 million new immigrants settled permanently in Canada from 2016 to 2021, the highest number of recent immigrants recorded in a Canadian census.
According to the new plan, there will be 82,880 Express Entry landings in 2023, 109,020 in 2024 and 114,000 in 2025.
The PNP will remain Canada’s leading admissions program for economic class immigrants with 105,500 PNP landings in 2023, 110,000 in 2024 and 117,500 in 2025.
Targets for the Parents and Grandparents Program will rise to 28,500 in 2023, followed by 34,000 in 2024, and 36,000 in 2025.
The Business Council of Canada (BCC) welcomed the federal government’s announcement, saying that employers across the country are struggling to fill jobs.
Welcoming the new plan, Sean Strickland, Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Union (CBTU), said, “Historically it has been through immigration that we have been able to grow our workforce, fill our union halls and build Canada’s infrastructure. Increased economic immigration is an important step to addressing labour availability across the country.”
While the plan was largely welcomed by industry groups, the big question remains will Canada be able to deal with that level of immigrants. It is inviting record level of immigrants to fill in the labour shortage, but on the other hand it is struggling to offer solution to inflation, housing crisis and a health care crisis to its current population.
