Canada is the second largest country on planet earth . . . and one of the least populated. Density, the number of people per square kilometer, is 3.63, making it 230th out of 244 jurisdictions worldwide. It has long had a policy to increase its meager population. Since WWII, the government paid a "baby bonus" to women to birth children. I had no employer but contributed to the family income as a child. For decades immigration policies have attempted to bring in large numbers of peoples from foreign lands.
The current official stated immigration goal is 285,000 people annually. The government believes it can assimilate that many people, even during a difficult economic climate. Not an easy thing to do. In Canada, like the US, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. Officially, the current unemployment rate is 7.1% (2 full points higher than US) . . . but people who have stopped looking for work are not counted in that statistic so the real number is somewhat higher. BTW, the government will never tell you the real number.
