Vancouver, April 13, 2012 — Today, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced the latest step in transforming Canada’s economic immigration system into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth, and prosperity.
Today’s announcement, the latest in the series of announcements that will be made over the course of the next month, focused on Canada’s Immigrant Investor Program.
“Canada’s Immigrant Investor Program undervalues the importance of Canadian Citizenship and fails to ensure that new investors are investing actively in the Canadian economy,” said Minister Kenney. “We will consult on changes to ensure that investments by immigrant investors contribute more effectively to growing our economy and creating jobs for Canadians.”
As part of the announcement Minister Kenney announced that:
- Government of Canada will introduce changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow the Minister of Immigration to rapidly create specialized programs,
- One such program could be a program to rapidly attract new investors to Canada, and
- Government of Canada will begin consultations with stakeholders and provinces and territories on how best to reform the current Immigrant Investor Program.
“Our goal is to have immigrant investor programs that attract immigrants who want to invest in Canada’s future,” said Minister Kenney. “We can no longer be a passive player in the global competition for talent and investment. That is why we need to review and amend our immigration laws to create dynamic programs that allow immigrants’ investments to directly benefit the Canadian economy. I am open to creative ideas and suggestions from the business community on how to maximize the economic benefits of such programs to Canada.”
The Minister will be consulting to determine how best to target high value global investors, unlike the current program, which essentially requires a five-year interest-free loan to provincial and territorial governments for economic development activities. The Minister will consult with Canadians about whether the government should use its powers under the amended Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to create programs that have a far greater impact on Canada’s economy, for example by possibly favouring active use of investment capital to promote economic growth.
Photo of Minister Kenney will be available later today.
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For further information (media only), please contact:
Ana Curic
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca
Building a stronger Canada: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) strengthens Canada’s economic, social and cultural prosperity, helping ensure Canadian safety and security while managing one of the largest and most generous immigration programs in the world.
