In 2025, Canada plans to welcome a record 500,000 new permanent residents. Canada has boosted its targets over the next two years as the country looks to ramp up arrivals to address an acute labour shortage, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Tuesday. In 2023, Canada now expects to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents. 

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said this year's immigration levels plan will help businesses find the workers they need. Canada will help those fleeing violence and war in their home countries and Canada is projected to reduce the number of government-assisted refugees it resettles by about a third.

Since taking power in 2015, prime minister Justin Trudeau has sharply ramped up immigration. In skilled trades and industries like healthcare Canada is struggling with an acute shortage of workers. 

There were 958,500 open roles in Canada in August and 1.0 million unemployed people as shown by the most recent job vacancy data. 

To fill those open positions many of the unemployed do not have the skills, or do not live in the right areas of the country. The new targets will boost the number of economic immigrants by about 13% between 2023 and 2025 and a record number of Canadians are now retiring. Most highly skilled workers are leaving businesses scrambling. 

The Business Council of Canada called for "bolder targets" in economic immigration and Canada can do more to welcome vulnerable people said by refugee lawyer Maureen Silcoff. 

University of Waterloo economist Mikal Skuterud said there are many good reasons to increase immigration and the tight labour market may slacken and newcomers may face challenges integrating.