Newly elected into office, many wait upon Trudeau’s first steps as Prime Minister. Vowing to bring a various reforms to Canada, many immigrant communities are waiting to see if he keeps his promises to improve the Canadian immigration system.
Newly elected into office, many wait upon Trudeau’s first steps as Prime Minister. Vowing to bring a various reforms to Canada, many immigrant communities are waiting to see if he keeps his promises to improve the Canadian immigration system.
With Canada’s aging work force, immigrants are needed now more than ever to sustain the country’s economy. This year experts estimate Canada brought in 260,000-285,000 new immigrants into the country, a number expected to rise 2016 especially with the Liberal promise to bring in more Syrian immigrants. The types of people immigrating to Canada in 2016 however may be a visible change from previous years. Under the Harper government, focus was placed on skilled labourers favouring immigrants with specialized skills training or university degrees, under the Trudeau government now though the focus will shift to “Family Reunification.”
According to Trudeau, “Making it easier for families to be together here in Canada makes more than just economic sense: When Canadians have added supports like family involvement in child care, it helps drives productive and economic growth.” The Liberals plan to increase the cap placed by the Conservatives on the amount of parents and grandparents allowed to immigrate into the country. With the previous quota of 5000, Canadians can expect to see that number double within the next year. Trudeau claims these added family supports coming into the country will enable parents to go to work, leaving their children in the hands of people they trust. In addition to the quota increases the Liberals have planned to double the budget for the processing of Parent & Grandparent applications decreasing the wait time drastically. The government also promised to raise the age for immigrant dependents from 19 to 22, once again allowing more immigrants to bring their families with them over to Canada.
Though more immigrants will be coming to Canada and obtaining permanent residency, the government plans on increasing the difficulty to obtain Canadian citizenship. Permanent residents will still have to wait four years for citizenship however they can expect to face difficult knowledge based language tests once they qualify.
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