This country brings hundreds of thousands of newcomers to Canada each year because they are a good investment. And we have many decades of experience to prove it.
Recent controversies involving international students, temporary foreign workers and asylum claimants have Canadians questioning the immigration system. As we have argued previously, the federal Liberal government must move swiftly and comprehensively to restore confidence in that system, by scaling back temporary migration and by ensuring that there are safeguards in place to discourage faux asylum claims.
But the need for reform, pressing as it is, should not obscure the fundamental truth that immigration has built Canada into the country it is today, and will enrich our collective future – if done properly.
With the exception of Canada’s Indigenous population, we are all settlers. We or our parents or grandparents or great-great-whatevers came to this land in search of a new start, many of us fleeing poverty or violence, and built together what remains the world’s most peaceful multicultural kingdom.
Yes, the immigration system has its problems. Some of the surging cohort of international students have come in search more of a job than an education. The number of temporary foreign workers has ballooned, allowing employers to avoid paying a market wage. Asylum claimants are so heavily straining social services that Quebec Premier François Legault has described the situation as “unbearable.” No wonder polls show Canadians have started to lose faith in the immigration system.
But the fact remains that Canada needs immigrants, badly. Statistics Canada reported last week that the total fertility rate has declined to 1.33 children per woman, far below 2.1 replacement rate that ensures a stable population. Without robust immigration, Canada would lack the workers needed to fill labour shortages, and to pay the taxes that sustain social services and pensions.
Other developed countries that do not embrace immigration, from Japan to Poland, are experiencing weak economic growth and relentless population decline. To prevent that, Canada needs to maintain an intake target of about 1 per cent of the existing population annually.
To restore confidence in Canada’s immigration system, Ottawa should focus relentlessly on its most important component: the points system. First conceived in the 1960s by the government of Lester B. Pearson and still used today, the system adjudicates applicants based on their age, education, work experience, language proficiency and other factors.
The system should worry less about filling this or that particular labour gap. Bring in the best and let them make their way. We have more than half a century of experience that proves how well this works.
With that focus, economic immigration should be an engine for increasing Canada’s productivity; the goal should be to structure the system in such a way that immigrants, after finding their footing in their new home, have higher earnings than the national average. Ottawa should (through Statistics Canada) monitor that metric.
Lastly, economic migration should be the focus of any expansion of overall immigration targets. Ottawa is already moving in that direction, with the economic migration category edging up to a planned 60 per cent of the total in 2026 from 58 per cent in 2022. That proportion should continue to rise, with other categories increasing at a slower pace.
In part, the increased number of economic migrants will be needed if, as this space has argued, Ottawa reduces the number of temporary foreign workers and returns the international student program to its original purpose.
Economic migrants are highly educated. Studies show they are more entrepreneurial than people born in Canada and their businesses create more jobs than Canadian-owned businesses. More than that, permanent immigrants (and their children and their grandchildren) become part of Canadian society in a way that temporary migrants never can.
Canada’s history of welcoming newcomers is not just one of this country’s finest characteristics – it is one of our biggest competitive advantages. Measured action now can restore confidence to the immigration system that has served Canada so well for so many years.