Election results: Will Canada change for immigrants?
Voting in Canada is over, now we can draw conclusions.
On September 20, early parliamentary elections were held in Canada. The ruling Liberal Party won and its leader Justin Trudeau retained his position as prime minister. However, the party, contrary to Trudeau's hopes, failed to win a majority of seats in parliament.
Immigration after the election
Since the ruling party hasn't changed, we should expect Canada to continue to pursue its immigration plan to welcome more than a million new immigrants over 2021-2023, and new arrivals will still receive support once they move.
In 2021, there is a tendency to give preference to immigrants who are in demand in the labour market. This year's budget outlines plans to change the Express Entry system, which focus on the in-demand professions of candidates. Also, for the entire year, Canada did not hold any selections under the federal skilled trades program, who do not need either Canadian experience or a work contract. Instead, selections were made for professionals with Canadian experience, and for those who received a provincial nomination.
Canada's eagerness to welcome in-demand professionals is also reflected in new immigration streams launched in May 2021. They will invite 90,000 people currently working in Canada.
We should also expect a record number of immigrants this year through the family sponsorship program. Canada intends to accept 30,000 parents and grandparents of those who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
In addition, the Liberals said in campaign statements that they would seek to admit more immigrants, promote immigration for French-speaking candidates, foreign workers and students studying in Canada, speed up the processing of immigration applications and abolish the application fee for Canadian citizenship.
What else did the liberals promise?
In addition to immigration issues, many topics were addressed before the election. For example, the Liberal Party promised to raise wages and help small businesses affected by the pandemic. Analysts estimate that wages in Canada will indeed increase in 2022, but it is unlikely that the increase will cover accelerated inflation.
The Liberals also talked about affordable child care services, improving conditions in nursing homes, combating climate change, and making it easier to buy your first home. The housing issue might not appeal to immigrants, because one way Trudeau proposed to curb housing prices would be to ban certain categories of foreigners from purchasing real estate.
Special mention should be made of vaccination. Canada is moving toward vaccinating all residents over the age of 12 who have no medical contraindications. Almost all provinces have developed plans to introduce vaccination passports and employers are requiring employees to get vaccinated.
