It seems that 2020 will be a vibrant year for the Canadian immigration system. On the other hand, we are not expecting any radical changes. In the federal elections held in October this year, the Liberal Party came out as the first party, although it did not win the majority by itself. Since the ruling party has not changed since 2015 and their priorities, goals and strategies are already known, major changes in the system are not likely.
The mandate letter that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote to the new Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino gives us a clear idea of how the immigration system awaits changes in the 2020 and subsequent years. The Prime Minister's expectations from the Immigration Minister are as follows:
Effective implementation of the increased annual Immigration Levels Plan for 2020-2022 and attracting over 1 million immigrants to Canada during this period. In this plan, the greatest weight will be given to 'highly skilled' people. This means that around 350,000 people per year are targeted for permanent residence.
The involvement of provinces in the process of high-quality settlement services to ensure the successful settlement and integration of immigrants. This requires a rigorous approach to data to accurately measure results.
Work to reduce processing times, improve and make service delivery and customer service less complex and more systematic and improve system efficiency, including the asylum system.
Initiate a Municipal Nominee Program to enable local communities, chambers of commerce and local working councils to directly sponsor immigrants. At least 5,000 new spaces will be allocated for this program.
Make the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program permanent and allocate at least 5,000 new places for it.
Make a plan to eliminate the citizenship application fee.
Launch of a pilot program to encourage newcomers to settle in rural areas with the support of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development and the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth.
Of course, these expectations do not only cover the year 2020 because most of them require long-term planning.
Although not perfect in all aspects, the Canadian immigration system is one of the best functioning immigration systems in the world, and we know that many countries have set Canada as an example. We will observe that the system serves Canada's immigration targets more effectively with improvements and program options to be increased in the coming periods.