Canada wants an additional 1.45 million immigrants by 2025 to close the employment gap

The new immigration plan aims to accommodate 465,000 people in 2023, rising to 500,000 in 2025. Immigration Canada says it welcomed 405,000 new arrivals last year, “the most we welcomed in one year.”

“We are building on that and setting higher goals in the coming years, because immigration is critical to growing our economy and helping businesses find the employment they need,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. chirp.

Canadian rhetoric contrasts with many senior government officials in other Western countries, where officials have spoken out about limiting immigration and viewed immigrants as an economic burden.

British Home Secretary Soila BravermanFor example, he faced criticism this week for describing migrants crossing the border English channel as an “invasion of our southern coast”. trying to stop the flow asylum seekers While traveling the dangerous road to Britain, Braverman backed an attempt to deport people to Rwanda to pressure asylum claims there – an earlier government plan that sparked outrage and Hit a legal wall.

Europe has rewritten its migrant handbook for Ukrainian refugees. Some fear it is not enough.

The rise in border crossings is also at the forefront of polarization issues in the United States, where there are some politically ambitious Republican governors You have Democrats led immigrants to protest the Biden administration’s policies.

In Canada, which is often a destination for economic immigration, the country’s growth policy seemed less divisive. Immigrants made up 23 percent of the population this year, the largest proportion in the country in more than 150 years Census Agency announced last week.

Canada has long adopted an approach to attract immigrants to offset the impact of declining birth rates and an aging population, and has reshaped some policies to overcome pandemic-related disruptions in mobility and immigration. “Canadians understand the need to continue to grow our population if we are going to meet workforce needs, if we are to rebalance a worrisome demographic trend, and if we are to continue to reunite families,” Fraser said.

The country has about three workers for every retired citizen, Fraser said, describing the goals as unprecedented for economic immigration. “We need more workers in every sector in every region of the country, no matter if they are frontline healthcare workers, truck drivers, home builders, or software engineers,” he said.

Canada wants immigrants but the epidemic is on the way. So she’s looking to really keep people there.

While the opposition Conservative Party criticized the government’s announcement on Tuesday, it still expressed support for efforts to increase immigration.

The plan was also met with questions from reporters about whether the government would address the pressure on affordable housing in parts of Canada, and any discrimination or challenges immigrants might face in finding appropriate support after their arrival.

While the new plan anticipates a decrease in the number of refugees, the United Nations refugee agency He said She welcomed Canada’s “continued leadership in refugee resettlement.”

This policy “makes sense in many ways,” Canadian refugee lawyer Maureen Silkoff WroteBut she urged the government to “focus on the inequalities faced by refugees who are vulnerable due to the caps.”