Canada has announced plans for an increase in the number of immigrants in the next three years. Ottawa plans to allow 14.5 lakh people to immigrate in view of crippling labour shortages threatening its economic viability.
The new plan anticipates immigration of 4.65 lakh next year, 4.85 lakh in 2024 and 5 lakh in 2025 as against just over 4 lakhs admitted last year. “Make no mistake. This is a massive increase in economic migration to Canada,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. said. “We have not seen such a focus on economic migration as we’ve seen in this immigration levels plan,” said Fraser.
Most of the new arrivals will be known as economic immigrants, who will be expected to fill some of the 10 lakh jobs currently vacant across various sectors of the economy. Canada’s worker-to-retiree ratio is expected to shift from seven to one 50 years ago to two to one by 2035.
“There are a million jobs in the Canadian when immigration already accounts for nearly all of our labour force growth. We cannot maximize our economic potential if we don’t embrace immigration,” said Fraser. Most of the growth in immigration will be focused on bolstering the economy.
