Canada is setting record immigration goals to bring in 1.45 million immigrants by 2025 to help plug labour shortages.
"Look, folks, it's simple to me. Canada needs more people," Sean Fraser, Canada's minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, told a news conference Tuesday (November 1st, 2022). He said that the government is looking to boost a labour market that left nearly a million job vacancies in the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The new immigration plan aims to take in 465,000 people in 2023, rising to 500,000 in 2025. The Canadian immigration department admitted 405,000 newcomers last year, which was "the most we've ever welcomed in a single year."
"We're building on that and setting higher targets in the years ahead because immigration is critical to growing our economy and helping businesses find the workers they need," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
tweeted.
In Canada, often a destination for economic immigration, the country's growth policy appeared to be less divisive. The census agency announced last week that immigrants made up 23 percent of the population this year, the most significant proportion in more than 150 years.
Canada has long adopted an approach of attracting immigrants to offset the impact of low birthrates and an aging population. In addition, it has reshaped some policies to overcome pandemic-related disruptions to movement and migration. "Canadians understand the need to continue to grow our population if we're going to meet the needs of the labour force, if we're going to rebalance a worrying demographic trend, and if we're going to continue to reunite families," Fraser said.
Fraser said the country has about three workers for every retired citizen, describing the targets as unprecedented for economic migration.
"We need more workers in every sector in every region of the country, regardless of whether it's front-line health-care workers, truck drivers, home builders or software engineers," he said.
We can make Canada your home! Contact us.
