Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration John McCallum
In a report compiled by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, the government is advised to increase the immigration flow by 50%, bringing the number of permanent residents to 450,000 per year. First and foremost, as reported by Russianweek.ca, it is recommended to invite (or allow entry to) knowledgeable and skilled people, active businessmen with new ideas who can make a significant contribution to the development of the national economy.
'The figures quoted are enormous,' said John McCallum, 'but they do not reflect all opinions and demands in individual regions of the country.' The immigration minister said that final volumes for attracting immigrants for 2017 will be published next month.
The Advisory Council consists of 14 people, and the chairman is Dominic Barton from McKinsey and Co. Together with 'Barton's group,' representatives of various ministries of the Liberal government work, in particular Canada's Minister of Economic Development Navdeep Bains.
Bains, while praising the said report, refrained from fully endorsing it, merely stating that in Canada 'we value our diversity, multicultural society and recognize immigration as an opportunity to create new jobs.' According to Bains, the government still needs to conduct a campaign to explain to the population the need to increase the number of new immigrants.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by an organization uniting Canadian manufacturers and exporters showed that they hope most of all to attract well-trained specialists of various professions. There are also no objections from financiers to the entry of new immigrants, especially since they contribute to increased productivity and economic development in general.
The Bank of Canada published data showing that the national economy will add 1.1% to its GDP this year – 0.2% less than forecast. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz considers immigration one of the factors that can contribute to increasing the pace of economic development.
Earlier, a meeting of Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration John McCallum with his provincial counterparts took place in Winnipeg. The meeting also discussed problems and prospects of immigration.
In particular, the provincial ministers once again asked the head of the federal agency to expand the powers of provincial immigration programs. There were also proposals to increase the number of potential immigrants who can apply under immigration programs. The Minister of Education of Manitoba, whose area of responsibility includes immigration issues, proposed to completely remove restrictions on the number of immigrants accepted under Manitoba's immigration program.
In addition, the meeting discussed improving existing programs designed to help immigrants adapt in Canada. The ministers agreed to cooperate more closely between their agencies to share best practices and implement the most successful practices for the adaptation of foreigners who have moved to Canada.
McCallum also said that the federal authorities will announce by November 1 how many immigrants they plan to accept in the next two years.