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This is the first time in many years where a Canadian government has set a target\u00a0of 300,000 or greater.<\/p>\n
While Canada is opening its doors even wider to immigrants, with plans for more refugees and improved family reunification times,\u00a0the overall target number for economic immigration categories has seen a slight decrease from the 2015 plan. However, economic immigration remains by far the largest category in terms of the number of newcomers targeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be able to welcome more people to Canada,\u201d said Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, John McCallum,\u00a0on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
McCallum said a bill tabled in Parliament calls for between 280,000 and 305,000 permanent residents to be allowed into Canada in 2016, including more refugees from war-torn Syria.\u00a0Calling it the country\u2019s highest targeted\u00a0number of new immigrants to Canada in modern times, McCallum\u00a0said the government\u2019s goal is to \u201cbring in immigrants who wish to build a better Canada.”<\/p>\n
The plan supports family reunification, reductions in application processing times, responds to economic needs, and allows the government to meet humanitarian objectives.\u00a0The plan\u00a0is supposed to be tabled each November, but the one for 2016 was delayed by the\u00a0general\u00a0election and change of government around that time last year.<\/p>\n
*The 2016 plan did not provide a distinct figure for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), as the 2015 plan did. Further, the 2015 plan also included the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) under the banner of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW). At the time of writing, it is believed that the above figure includes FSW, CEC and FSTC. In that event, between the three programs there is a decrease of 20.27% from 2015 to 2016.<\/p>\n
**All calculations were made using the higher number provided within the admission range for both 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n