“Mixed Reviews” on Immigration Targets?

On Thursday, The Canadian Press reported on the “mixed reviews” from some “policy experts” on Canada’s aggressive new immigration targets for 2023-2025. They said that some are “worried” about potential effects on health care, housing and the labour market. 

But the evidence shows that the health care, housing and labour market are all in need of policy and structural attention today. The current state has nothing to do with immigration. 

Canada also has a declining birthrate. According to Statistics Canada, our birthrate fell to a record low of an average of 1.4 children per woman in 2020. That’s well below the 2.1 rate needed to maintain a population without immigration.

Still, for some people, any discussion of increased immigration levels sets off unfounded alarm bells. They argue – not convincingly – that new immigrants could put a strain on housing affordability and health care. But as we have written here before, new housing will be built to meet new demands, the labour shortage will be filled by new immigrants who will pay taxes and be new consumers, and that will fuel Canada’s economic growth, which by extension will fund the needed – and existing – requirements for the upgrade, expansion, and modernization of Canada’s infrastructure, which includes the health care system.

Far from being “worried”, these “experts” should applaud a policy designed to make Canada stronger and more prosperous. How can a country with a rapidly declining birthrate, aging population, and backbreaking national debt, afford new schools and hospitals without an aggressive plan to increase immigration? The answer is why cannot.

Canada’s Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser, and a majority of Canadians don’t share the “worry” of “some experts” that have been interviewed by The Canadian Press. There is overwhelming evidence that insists that Canada needs more newcomers to address labour shortages and demographic changes that threaten the country’s future. “If we don’t continue to increase our immigration ambition and bring more working-age population and young families into this country, our questions will not be about labour shortages, generations from now,” Mr. Fraser said in an interview.

In November, the federal government announced a new immigration plan that would see Canada welcome 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025. A record-breaking 431,645 people became permanent residents in 2022.

No one argues that there should not be an alignment between immigration and building the infrastructure capacity required to accommodate and integrate them. Quite the contrary, the consensus on that question is wide and deep.

Mr. Fraser also said changes are also coming to the Express Entry system in the next few months so that immigrants can be selected based on the sector and region in Canada they’re heading to. That will help alleviate some of the potential strains on things like health care and housing, he said. 

Business groups in Canada have seen ongoing labour shortages as a major concern, and they have called on the government to help fill vacancies. The Business Council of Canada applauded Ottawa’s new targets, saying that “an economy that is chronically short of workers cannot achieve its potential.”