Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared significant changes to his cabinet. Canada’s new immigration minister is Marc Miller, a member of parliament from Quebec. Miller used to serve as the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. It’s a position/ role meant to support the self-determination of Canada’s indigenous people.
In addition, Canada’s former immigration minister, Sean Fraser, will now become the Minister of Housing, Communities, & Infrastructure.
Miller was first elected to the Parliament of Canada in 2015. Before entering politics, Canada’s new immigration minister was a practicing lawyer & also served in the Canadian armed forces.
Moreover, Marc Miller was born & raised in Montreal. He also earned two degrees from the University of Montreal in Political Science. Furthermore, he also gained his law degree from McGill University.
The cabinet is the body of ministers appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada. They are responsible for pursuing & interacting with the policy priorities of the federal government.
The Prime Ministers of Canada tend to shuffle their cabinets every two years or so. Reasons for conducting this shuffle include replacing poor-performing ministers, promoting people who have done an excellent job, & offering the government a chance to refresh its policies & public communications.
The last major cabinet shuffle took place in October 2021, following that year’s federal election. As a part of that shuffle, Fraser was appointed Canada’s immigration minister & head of the department of IRCC.
Trudeau has served as the prime minister since November 2015. Over this time, Canada has pursued more aggressive levels of immigration.
Before Trudeau’s tenure, the nation welcomed around 250,000 new permanent inhabitants yearly. When Trudeau came into power, this increased to 300,000 per year & further 340,000 before the pandemic hit the country.
During COVID-19, Canada hiked its targets to over 400,000 newcomers every year. Moreover, under the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-25, Canada is presently seeking 500,000 permanent residents annually by 2025.
This pursuit of admitting more permanent inhabitants is driven by the nation’s aging population & low birth rate. In addition, the federal government sees immigration as a measure to strengthen the economy & fiscal standing of the nation, as over 9 million people will reach the retirement age of 65 years within the next decade.
This hike in immigration levels aligns with Canada dealing with historically low unemployment rates & high vacancies.
After a major cabinet shuffle, Canada’s prime minister might decide to issue new mandate/ grant letters to the cabinet, outlining what each minister is expected/ anticipated to focus on while serving in their position.
In December 2021, Trudeau gave Fraser a list of immigration policies to prioritize, like hiking immigration levels, improving application procedures for newcomers/ immigrants, strengthening family reunification, reforming Express Entry, promoting francophone immigrants, etc.
Since then, Sean Fraser has implemented/ enforced a variety of these measures. For instance, in the last month, Canada has started holding category-based selections for Express Entry to accomplish numerous economic priorities. Similarly, Fraser declared implementing certain measures to help keep families together in Canada in late May.