Canada will uphold immigration levels for the year 2009

In the start of 2009, Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Canada Minister Jason Kenney stated that Canada was considering decreasing the number of Immigrants in 2009. This was for the reason that economic uncertainty and unemployment was prevailing in certain parts of the country.

At that time, minister Kenney said that Canada doesn’t want newcomers coming to Canada and face unemployment due to current economic inflation worldwide. So Canada might decrease the number of Immigrants in 2009.

In January, Minister Kenney had planned a meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts at the end of March for the assessment of Canada's labor market needs and concludes whether immigration numbers should be reduced.

Many happy returns!
In that meeting, Minister Kenney has decided that the want for immigration to Canada remains strong. Because Canada is facing a long-term labor deficiency so the government is not going to turn off the immigration tap merely to have to turn it back on afterward. The provinces of Alberta and British Columbia alone are going to need an additional 610,000 foreign workers during the next five years, he went on to say, as old workers which constitute nearly 55% of total workers retire and their economy will continue to expand.

The Immigration target of Canada for 2009 will therefore remain at 250,000.