Canada Needs to Double Immigration Targets

Canada already has a very generous immigration system that sees somewhere between 225,000 and 250,000 new permanent residents each year. The government of the day, whether Liberal or Conservative, often boasts of how well the system has worked in achieving their targeted goal. Recent Statistics Canada results suggest that within the next few decades 100% of Canadian growth in population will be the result of immigration only. That is, we will have to do twice as good at selecting and processing immigrants if Canada is to survive.

Canada has been lucky enough or blessed enough to be one of the premier destination countries for foreign nationals who are looking for a new home. Skilled workers, professionals, business people, spouses and children, parents and grand-parents and refugees all make up the rich resource of new permanent residence that Canada receives each year. But the recent Stats Canada assessment reveals that we need twice as many immigrants and thus Canada Needs to Double Immigration Targets.

Immigration has traditionally been Canada 's equalizer as a method of adding well-trained skilled working age people to our economy without the great expense of raising and training those people. The nature of the immigrants themselves has changed as well. Whereas years ago many would come to Canada happy with the opportunity to work at anything and build their lives, the expectation today is that immigrants should be able to just start where they left off. It is not the fault of the immigrant. After all, the government "advertises" that they need certain types; employers say they need certain types and have job shortages, but when the people arrive the infrastructure is not as developed to allow them to start where they left off.

The global situation too has changed. Many of these skilled and professional workers come from countries where there is some level of prosperity but for a variety of reasons (children's future, insecurity, instability) they decide to give another country a try. Perhaps some does or reality should be injected to them too.

Despite these problems new applicants are added everyday. Some of them luck enough to find a fast ticket to Canada through a Work Permit or Provincial Program, while others will wait 3, 4, 5 and 6 or more years for their turn to come to Canada . The backlog grows everyday. Will Canada only act when we see our population decline?