Canada announces plan to continue growing the economy and creating middle class jobs through responsible increases in newcomers

March 12, 2020—Ottawa—Today the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, tabled the 2020‒2022 Immigration Levels Plan in the House of Commons.

The new plan will benefit all Canadians because immigration drives economic growth, spurs innovation and helps employers access the talent they need to thrive. Welcoming more newcomers will help to address the demographic challenges of an aging population and to compete and win in a competitive global marketplace.

The proposed plan is based on the solid economic foundation of the previous levels plan and continues to responsibly grow the number of permanent residents admitted to Canada each year, from 341,000 in 2020 to 351,000 in 2021 and 361,000 in 2022.

With this plan, the Government will implement a number of key commitments:

• responsibly grow Canada’s population;
• take the steps to make the Atlantic Immigration Pilot a permanent program to continue supporting economic growth in Atlantic Canada, with 5,000 admissions;
• create a new stream to provide a safe haven for human rights advocates, journalists and humanitarian workers at risk abroad;
• facilitate the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot, to address specific labour market shortages;
• support family reunification through sustained high admissions; and
• reduce application processing times and improve service delivery and client services at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

We will also continue to implement our plan to increase Francophone immigration outside Quebec, while supporting the successful integration and retention of French-speaking newcomers and strengthening Francophone communities.

With increased space for the Provincial Nominee Program, an Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Agri-Food and Rural and Northern Immigration Pilots, the levels plan directly addresses labour market needs across Canada to ensure businesses can get the talent they need, where they need it.