Canada’s population grew by 40.6 percent between 1990 and 2022, with rising immigration rates. However, despite having a higher relative population growth, Canada falls behind other highly-developed countries such as Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden regarding per-capita gross domestic product. According to a recent TD Economics study, this has impacted Canada’s standard-of-living curve, which has fallen behind for the last few decades. This could be traced to the country’s decades of stunted productivity growth, mainly stemming from low business investment in plant, equipment, and technology. The core of Canada’s immigration system is the economic stream, which brings in skilled foreign workers with more earning potential, education, and skills. However, this goal was inadequately met from a policy standpoint, and the post-2015 Liberal government’s reduction of economic immigrants’ share among the annual immigrant inflow further diluted the immigration system.
