Canada Election and Expectations from the Immigration System in Future

The Canada Election is over and with the victory of the Liberal Party though in minority means the immigration system will remain stable till they retain the confidence of Parliament.  Also, the Liberals will have to rely on the support of other parties to get through the legislation in Parliament, requiring compromise and negotiation; the immigration policy will sail through in the Parliament.

Immigration levels will rise further under the Liberal government. As per their present plan, the target is planned to increase to 350,000 in 2021, from 330,800 in 2019. The party has adopted the incremental approach in recent years, and immigration targets are expected to increase additionally by 10,000 each year even beyond 2021.

The Liberals have launched economically based immigration pilot programs like The Atlantic Immigration Pilot, which would now become permanent as per the mandate. Furthermore, the Municipal Nominee Program has gained prominence as per the pledge of Liberals to help small cities in Canada to attract immigrants. Its details MNP have not emerged, but will gather national interest as there is a challenge among the Canadian cities for attracting immigrants. Apart from Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Alberta that have two main cities, the remaining provinces (seven) in Canada observe that 80 per cent of newcomers prefer staying in the main city.

The selection criteria of MNP will be modeled on the AIP as well as Rural Northern Immigration Pilot. This will enable employers in municipal areas as designated by federal government for supporting the applications of newcomers meeting their labor requirements. A major question in the MNP is the way Liberals will distribute 2,750 spots for principal applicants in a country that has 35 metropolitan areas and cities as per the census having a population of 100,000 people. Besides, there are 117 agglomerations, as per the census, having a population in the range of 10,000. As per the expectation it will benefit cities of small and medium-size in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta.

The Liberal Party made a pledge regarding waiving citizenship fees for permanent residents. This means that now onwards the high rate of acquiring citizenship in Canada will increase.

The Liberals allotted $110 million for the year 2023-2024 regarding handling an expected increase of applications that is 40 percent more from the fiscal budget this year at $75 million. Thus such a policy will lead to 40 percent increase in new citizenship by 2024.

The federal settlement allocation that funds services to foster economic and social integration presently is $1.5 billion and will increase further because the Liberal Party will increase the immigration level.

The Liberal party will maintain stability in the immigration system. In the 2019 campaign of Canada the major parties had a view of welcoming newcomers as it is significant for the economic development of the country. Canada is unique among western democracies and is not affected by rising polarization in the world.