New Directions in Immigration Policy: Canada’s Evolving Approach to Immigration Selection

Canada’s immigration system is currently undergoing significant change driven by several goals that include: (1) a desire to improve the economic outcomes of entering immigrants, given the deterioration in labour market outcomes over the past several decades; (2) an attempt to better respond to short-term regional labour market shortages often associated with commodity booms, and (3) a desire to shift immigration away from the three largest cities to other regions of the country. These goals are reflected in the modification of the point system in 2002 and the implementation of a series of new immigrant programs. The paper discusses the recent changes to Canadian immigration policy and examines the preliminary results achieved by the new programs.