Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is counting on a significant increase in immigration to the country in order to deal with the labor shortage that is preventing the economy from reaching its full potential. Indeed, in its federal budget presented today, it now wants to bring in 46,000 more immigrants per year to fill positions in the labor market. Thus, by 2024, 451,000 immigrants will be admitted annually to Canada.
In its 2022 budget, Justin Trudeau’s government is giving itself significant resources, including an investment of $2.1 billion, with an additional $317.6 million thereafter. This amount will allow the processing of applications and the resettlement of new permanent residents to continue.
Also to facilitate the arrival of visitors, students and workers in Canada, the federal government is injecting $385.6 million over five years, then $86.5 million thereafter.
Even though the Canadian economy has recovered 112% of the jobs lost at the start of the pandemic and Canada is experiencing an unemployment rate of 5.5% in February 2022, the lack of workers is a major obstacle to the development of full potential.
