In October, Statistics Canada reported that results from the 2016 Census revealed that 7,540,830 “foreign-born individuals” – who live in Canada – entered the country using its immigration process.

On the heels of such news comes word that Canada plans to welcome 340,000 immigrants a year by 2020. This climb will be gradual, as 310,000 and 330,000 immigrants, respectfully, will come into Canada in 2018 and 2019. These figures were presented as part of the Federal Government’s Immigration Level’s plan.

“Everyone has been of the opinion we need more workers, we need more skilled workers, we need more people to power our economy, address our real skills shortages, address our real labour market shortages, and also address the regional nature of some of these requirements,” explained Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen. “So we’ve listened.”

Another influencer for Hussen and the Liberals is the desire Canadian citizens have had as it relates to devising a multi-year plan for immigration targets.

“Provinces, municipalities, service providers, employers, everyone in Canada has been saying we need multi-year – we can’t keep doing immigration on a one-year basis,” confirmed Hussen. “We need long-term planning, we need predictability, we need stability and we need to plan ahead.”

The numbers presented (which you can view right here) show that the majority of immigrants entering Canada will remain a part of the economic class.

-Adam Grant

On a recent episode of “theZoomer,” host Libby Znaimer was joined by diverse community leaders (David Onley, Cat Criger, Lt. Gen. Richard Rohmer, Dr. Andrea Davis) to discuss Canada’s sesquicentennial. You can watch that episode below.