Ontario urged to encourage immigrants to look beyond the GTA
Credit to Author: Ramya Ramanathan| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 00:30:22 +0000
Did you know that the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) alone welcomes more immigrants annually than Quebec, the four Atlantic provinces, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan combined? Did you know that in 2018 the GTA welcomed 106,000 immigrants while the number for the rest of Ontario was 31,000?
New report calls for a regional immigration strategy
A new report launched by the Conference Board of Canada, Immigration Beyond the GTA: Toward an Ontario Regional Immigration Strategy, highlights these numbers and calls for Ontario to put in place a new immigration strategy. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) comprises 45 per cent of Ontario’s population and welcomes 77 per cent of the province’s newcomers. While high immigration enriches the GTA’s economy, it also places pressure on the area’s economy, infrastructure, and services.
A regional strategy is needed to ensure a broader distribution of newcomers across the province’s other census metropolitan areas in support of economic development.The need for a strategy is underscored by the fact that Ontario census metropolitan areas have taken great strides throughout the 2000s to boost their immigration levels but continue to welcome well under their proportionate share of newcomers.
In addition to creating a regional strategy, the report offers suggestions to support immigration beyond the GTA such as marketing other metropolitan areas, refining the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program and building public awareness about immigration.
The report comes at a time when economic and fiscal pressures are looming across the province due to population aging, a low birth rate, and high rates of outmigration in some cases.
Why should newcomers settle beyond the GTA?
The GTA is one of the world’s most multicultural regions and offers jobs in various sectors and a multitude of educational and leisure opportunities. The report says that while other metropolitan areas across Ontario do not have the same amount of job opportunities, settlement services, cultural amenities, and ethnic diversity as the GTA, they still offer a range of immigration advantages compared with the GTA.
Advantages include a much lower unemployment rate, more affordable housing, quality of life factors such as a lower cost of living, less traffic and shorter commute times, and access to outdoor activities, in addition to being a great fit for those who prefer living in smaller communities.
For more details and complete report, visit the Conference Board of Canada’s website.