44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 11, 2023 10:00AM
- May/11/23 5:21:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was wonderful to see you this morning when we greeted the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, who is quite an impressive individual. We wish her much continued success in her endeavours in Moldova.
I wish to commence by saying that my parents are immigrants. I am the son of immigrants to Canada. In the late 1950s, early 1960s, my mother and her seven siblings came over to Canada by boat via a famous location in this country, Pier 21. They came to build a better life for their family and, eventually, for their children and grandchildren. Canada has given us much to be thankful for. Canada chose us. It chose my parents, and as newcomers to this country, we never forget that. Therefore, I wish to give thanks.
I am pleased to rise today to tell members about the Government of Canada's immigration levels.
Every year, the government tables the annual immigration levels plan for the following year. Canada's immigration levels plan is based on input from employers, communities, provinces and territories, and it is informed by data.
Let me be clear. Canada needs more newcomers to address our demographic challenges and the labour shortage and to ensure our long-term prosperity.
Under the Canada-Quebec accord, Quebec has rights and responsibilities with respect to the number of immigrants Quebec takes in and how they are selected, welcomed and integrated. We therefore work closely with Quebec on everything related to immigration.
Without immigrants, it would have been very difficult for Canada's economy and Quebec's to deal with the challenges of the past two and a half years. In fact, many temporary and permanent residents in this country work in key sectors, such as health care, transportation, agriculture and manufacturing. One of these programs, dubbed the guardian angel policy for health care workers, was created with Quebec's help.
Immigrants played a key role in Canada's post-pandemic economic recovery, which was among the strongest in the world. That includes Quebec, of course. Canada also has historically low unemployment right now. The problem is that the recovery has resulted in a major labour shortage. There are currently over 700,000 vacant jobs in this country. Employers across the country are having a hard time finding and keeping the workers they need, and economic opportunities are being lost as a result.
Permanent immigration is essential to Canada's long-term economic growth. It accounts for nearly 100% of the growth in our workforce and, by 2032, it will account for 100% of our demographic growth.
Fifty years ago, there were seven workers for every retiree in Canada. Today that number is closer to three, and it will likely drop to two by 2035. If we do not change our current trajectory by bringing more newcomers into Canada, we will no longer be having conversations about labour shortages. We will be having conversations about whether we can keep schools and hospitals open.
Immigration helps us alleviate critical labour shortages at all skill levels in key sectors across Canada. Our plan will help us ready Canada's workforce to respond to both current and future challenges.
Canadians know that immigration is one of our greatest assets. It helps us compete. If we want to boost our economic success significantly, we need to boost immigration.
Canada will welcome 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
It is important to note that these levels are far from the numbers that the Bloc Québécois mentioned.
I would say that these increased immigration levels will help Canada recruit the workers that it needs to address the critical labour shortage and build a strong and resilient economy for the future.
There are many advantages to Canada's global leadership position in immigration and our welcoming immigration policies. Immigration enables us to meet our demographic challenges while supporting the stable and reliable social programs that we take for granted as Canadians. As I said before, we recognize that this needs to be done carefully.
Canadians are now living longer and having fewer children. That reality will impact on our economy now and for years and decades to come.
That is why Canada must increase the number of immigrants that we welcome. In other words, increased immigration means that we will have more people in Canada to participate in our labour force, contribute to our social programs and grow our communities.
As the member knows, the Canada-Quebec accord is clear about the establishment of immigration levels. Canada sets the annual number of immigrants for the country by taking into account the number of immigrants Quebec wants to welcome.
Under this agreement, Quebec is solely responsible for selecting immigrants in the economic and humanitarian streams and for applying the federal selection criteria for family reunification.
If Bloc Québécois members are concerned about the decline in the number of newcomers to Quebec or the immigration thresholds set by the province, they should discuss that directly with the province.
The Bloc Québécois's main concern seems to be the work of a non-partisan, independent group of Canadians who have written their own report on potential targets and suggestions for immigration. We encourage all Canadians to provide suggestions and feedback on our immigration plan and system.
It is essential that all governments commit to meeting the needs of the people we serve, whether in Quebec, Nunavut, Nova Scotia or British Columbia. This is one of the reasons Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has held meetings on the future of immigration. Thousands of groups, citizens and organizations have submitted their views on their visions for immigration in the next 15 to 20 years.
We are not looking to set immigration levels for the coming decades, but we are trying to understand the needs of employers, industries, communities, provinces and territories in order to make sure we have the operational capacity and modernized immigration system to support those needs.
We have heard from and worked with francophone communities and Canadians outside Quebec on the challenges of declining population size in francophone minority communities.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and I have worked closely with the Minister of Official Languages to support the implementation of the official languages action plan, which includes strengthening francophone and bilingual immigration through the francophone immigration strategy. In 2022, we reached the target of 4.4% of francophone immigrants admitted outside Quebec.
I look forward to questions and comments from members.
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- May/11/23 5:32:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Trois-Rivières for his question.
Immigration is very important for Canada's economic growth, now and in the long term.
It is very important when newcomers come to Canada, whether temporarily or permanently, that there be lots of housing and social services that are able to meet the demands across this country. Of course, the Province of Quebec and the Government of Canada have entered into agreements on immigration since the early 1990s. That plan has worked over the decades, and it continues to work.
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- May/11/23 5:34:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, with regard to how we set our immigration targets here in Canada, obviously, it is a consultative process. We take in suggestions from numerous organizations and look to employers and the provinces as to the numbers that we need to have. I view immigration as nation building and as bringing newcomers to Canada who want not only to work but also to create a life for themselves and their families. They want to create futures and call this beautiful country that we are all blessed to live in home. It is truly special when Canada says yes to a person coming here, and they know how special it is. That is what makes our country very unique throughout the world. Again, I will repeat this: We are blessed to be Canadian, and we are blessed to call this country home.
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- May/11/23 5:37:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is a very important question. We know here in Canada that settlement services receive much funding from the federal government to help newcomers who come to Canada to settle into their communities quickly by understanding what they need. These services help them in their need to start working and to get the services that are provided by each level of government. Our office tries to assist them as well to ensure they know where to go for a driver's licence, for example, or their hospital card or to apply for different services. We need to continue to do that, particularly for those coming here with knowledge of the French language who are going to different parts other than la belle province.
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