The Canadian government has announced a series of measures aimed at boosting immigration levels and improving integration for newcomers in the country as part of Budget 2023.
The Highlights of the Budget:
Budget 2023 primarily focuses on broad measures that will benefit both native-born Canadians and recent immigrants, in contrast to last year’s budget, which allocated $1.6 billion over six years to immigration.
The national dental care programme for households with annual incomes under $90,000 is an illustration of this. Also, a new tax-free home savings account that went into effect on April 1 of this year will enable first-time homeowners to save up to $40,000 by making tax-free contributions of up to $8,000 annually. Contributions will be tax-free.
Still, the budget is expected to have a positive impact on Canada’s immigration policies. The money will be used to streamline the application process and support current programmes. An additional $55 million will be allocated to Canada’s immigration system in the budget for 2023. The roughly $4.5 billion in spending that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has planned for the federal fiscal year 2023–2024 is in addition to this.
The IRCC and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will receive $10 million over five years, beginning in 2023–2024, with $14.6 million left over for amortisation. Application procedure for citizenship will go more quickly as a result.
The budget also suggests extending the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) Program’s eligibility to visitors from low-risk nations. The cost of the policy, according to the government, is $50.8 million over four years. The federal government anticipates that this will free up resources for screening high-risk travellers and make Canada a more alluring destination for those it regards to be trustworthy travellers. The programme is now only accessible in Brazil, but a list of nations that qualify will be made public in the upcoming weeks.
The budget proposes $123.2 million to increase the number of Francophone immigrants to Canada, including assistance for Canadian employers seeking to hire French-speaking foreign workers and increased assistance for these immigrants once they arrive, in order to further the government’s official mandate to expand the use of the French language in communities outside of Quebec.
Canada’s economy is one of the G7’s most stable overall. Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister and minister of finance, claims that the number of employed Canadians has increased by 830,000 since the COVID-19 pandemic, or by 126%. According to the minister, Canada will have the G7’s best economic growth in 2023.
