Canada's new government. How will immigration change?

Recently, there has been a major change in the Canadian government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to renew the Cabinet of Canada and change officials. The Cabinet is basically the government, it consists of ministers who are responsible for different areas: health, security, immigration, and the like.

New immigration minister

In general, the Cabinet regularly undergoes such changes, but the current reorganization is said to be the most extensive since 2015 and a lot of major changes in Canada are awaited soon. There is also an opinion that Trudeau did it because his party has been heavily criticized lately for expensive housing, crime, and various controversial laws that people think are censorship. We discussed one of such laws. But if you haven't moved to Canada yet, you're probably more concerned now about whether there will be any changes to immigration, how big they are, and if it's all good or bad.

Until recently, the position of Minister of Immigration was held by Sean Fraser. He was replaced and the post is now held by Marc Miller, who was previously Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. Miller has been in government since 2015, before that, in 2013, he was an advisor to Justin Trudeau's campaign and also worked as a lawyer. An interesting fact is that Miller attended the same college as Trudeau and they are described as longtime friends. In his political career, Miller has often advocated for investments in affordable housing, public transportation, child benefits, and has also supported the rights of Canada's indigenous peoples.

Changes in immigration

As for immigration, I actually don't think it will change much. Trudeau and the entire Liberal Party have always supported immigration, under Trudeau Canada started giving out 300,000 permanent residencies every year first, then over 400,000, and by 2025 they want to grant up to half a million. The new immigration minister will likely continue this.

The previous minister, Fraser, was tasked with implementing changes to the immigration system in 2021, and many of them have been implemented. The plan was to increase immigration, speed up the processing of applications, increase the movement of candidates with knowledge of French, and change the Express Entry system so that it would give permanent residence permits not only to those who simply scored more points but also to those with a sought-after profession. All of this is already in place now. By the way, Fraser himself is now Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, maybe he can do some good there too.

Most likely, Canada will continue to move towards accepting more newcomers and ensuring that these newcomers have the professions the country needs. Perhaps the immigration system will be changed in some other way to accomplish this. Miller himself, the new minister of immigration, tweeted that almost all Canadians were once newcomers and that he was happy to be able to help people become Canadians.

The next federal election in Canada is scheduled for 2025, and if they elect a different prime minister and a different party, then there could be some serious changes in immigration. For now, everything is the same, but I still never advise you to delay moving.

If you need help with immigration, visas or enrolling in a Canadian college, contact us. We are a legal immigration company and have several licensed counselors working for us.

Alex Pavlenko, founder of Immigrant.Today