ENGINE OF GROWTH:HOW A CANADIAN BUSINESS IMMIGRATION COUNCIL CAN SUPPORT NATIONAL PROSPERITY

Never really addresses the fact that governments are inherently bad at these kind of programs and that consequently, economic outcomes are disappointing (business class immigrants pay some of the lowest taxes of all immigrants). The issues and concerns that some of us raised did not make it into the report:

Executive Summary

In May 2025, Prime Minister Carney outlined seven policy priorities for the Government of Canada including strengthening international trade relationships with reliable partners, bringing down costs for Canadians and making housing more affordable, and attracting the best talent in the world while returning immigration to more sustainable levels.

• Business immigration can support Canada’s economy in various ways. These include promoting productivity and GDP per capita growth, supporting affordability and the health care system, as well as strengthening foreign direct investment, international trade, and Canada’s fiscal standing.

• Business immigration once comprised up to one-quarter of Canada’s economic class admissions (30,000 business immigrants annually). Under its Immigration Levels Plan 2026- 2028, the federal government is now seeking to welcome 500 business immigrants per year. The federal government has stepped back from business immigration due to challenges such as backlogs and the belief that the economic benefits have been limited.

• In 2025, the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA) launched the Catalyst Canada initiative. Catalyst Canada convened 11 roundtables featuring 27 experts from across sectors to explore the future of business immigration in the country. (See Appendix II for details on this report’s methodology).

• The main conclusion of the Catalyst Canada initiative is that business immigration can help to advance Canada’s prosperity. The federal government’s main goal should be to develop a framework that enables it to test and iterate various business immigration programs until desirable policy outcomes are achieved. Employing an iterative approach will enable evidence-based policymaking and also avoid previous shortcomings of launching new programs and then abruptly shutting them down when policy objectives are not met.

• Catalyst Canada recommends the formation of a federal Canadian Business Immigration Council comprised of key government stakeholders and other experts to advise the government on business immigration program design and evaluate performance to ensure the programs can advance national economic development and prosperity objectives.

Source: ENGINE OF GROWTH:HOW A CANADIAN BUSINESS IMMIGRATION COUNCIL CAN SUPPORT NATIONAL PROSPERITY