Financial News

Canada Ready To Greet A Million More Expats

Canada wants to triple the number of expats going to the country over the three years.

The government wants to attract a million new Canadians as permanent residents by the end of 2020.

The planned destination for most is Ontario, the most populous province where more than 14 million of the country’s 35 million population live.

The major cities are the capital Ottawa and Toronto.

The federal government wants to increase the current annual number of expats and immigrants moving to Canada from 100,000 to around 350,000 for the next three years.

Boost for economy

“Immigration is good for Ontario and good for Canada. The Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement strengthens Ontario’s ability to partner with the federal government to attract skilled newcomers who will benefit our shared economies and contribute to Canada’s future prosperity,” said Laura Albanese, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

As part of the plan, the federal government has inked a deal with the Ontario provincial government to take in more expats over the next five years.

The aim is to boost the economy by settling and training newcomers to adapt skills they may have learned abroad to similar professions in Canada.

The cost of the scheme is expected to reach more than $90 million. The government is already investing $335 million in a settlement service for expats in Ontario over the next two years, while the state government is matching the figure with another $110 million.

Welcome for expats

Although Canada welcomes expats, one of the concerns is that qualifications earned overseas do not match those required for the same jobs in Canada, so retraining is necessary.

“Ontario is the top destination for new permanent residents settling in Canada each year, typically exceeding 100,000 newcomers. With the ambitious three-year levels plan we’ve established on immigration, the time is right to put a new agreement in place that defines how Canada and Ontario will work together to achieve our mutual goals,” said Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Canada is an attractive home for expats as one of the world’s leading developed economies with high per capita incomes and a reputation as a multicultural nation with a high quality of life and respect for human rights.

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