Canada's population increased to a record-high last year due to an influx of immigrants, the country's statistical agency has said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's liberal government doubled its target for welcoming new residents, including temporary residents and asylum seekers, as the country is working to meet fresh economic and labour challenges.
The number of immigrants reached a record 437,180 in 2022, which “is related to efforts by the Government of Canada to ease labour shortages in key sectors of the economy”, a statement by Statistics Canada said.
That number is on trend to rise to 500,000 per year by 2025 and could double Canada's population in 26 years.
As of January 1, the country's population hit 39,566,248 after adding 1,050,110 people over the previous 12 months — a sizeable gain the likes of which has not been seen since the postwar baby boom of the 1950s.
Currently, international migration accounts for about all of Canada's growth at 95.9 per cent, with Ottawa's policies to introduce immigrants to meet a labour shortage.
“This marks the first 12-month period in Canada's history where population grew by over 1 million people,” the agency said.
The number of non-permanent residents granted work or study permits in Canada also spiked last year to 607,782. That was partly due to the welcoming of many thousands of people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Statistics Canada.
The government has also made it easier for Afghans facing instability to come to Canada, as well as Turks and Syrians following recent earthquakes.
Canada is now contending with near-record low unemployment at 5 per cent as its population continues to age. One in seven people in the country are between 55 and 64 years old.
While Canadians generally have positive views of immigration, the latest influx, according to Statistics Canada, will pose challenges in areas of housing, infrastructure and transportation, and other services.
With an increase of 2.7 per cent, Canada last year by far led other Group of Seven industrialised nations and ranked among the top 20 in the world for population growth, the agency said.
AFP contributed to this report
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What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
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- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
