Manitoba population booms

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Manitoba’s population is continuing to balloon, new figures show.

According to Statistic Canada, as of April 1, it grew by just over 16,000 people in the last 12 months to reach about 1.25 million. This growth of 1.31 per cent is the biggest growth in the past 40 years.

It’s the third-highest growth rate among all Canadian provinces and well above the national rate of 1.06 per cent.

In the last 10 years, the population rose by 96,700 people, more than twice the growth of the previous ten year period.

"This is equivalent to welcoming another Brandon, Thompson, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach, and Winkler to our province," said Peter Bjornson, the entrepreneurship, training and trade minister.

Statistics Canada estimates that Manitoba received 15,707 new immigrants between April 2010 and April 2011. And there were 16,214 newborns in the province during that period.

Bjorn accredited the Provincial Nominee Program for 75 per cent of all immigration to Manitoba. The program encourages skilled workers from abroad to apply for permanent residency.

Provincial Nominee Program a success, admission to increase five folds, says Kenney

Source: Canadianimmigrant.ca

Minister Jason Kenney speaks to meida on the success of provincial nominee program after public consultations in Toronto, July 20.

Provinces and territories are on track this year to welcome a record number of immigrants selected under their own nominee programs, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

“Our government recognizes the importance of nominee programs in spreading out the benefits of immigration around the country,” he said addressing the Vancouver Board of Trade, recently. “That is why we plan to admit about 40,000 immigrants in the provincial nominee category in 2011, five times more than the 8,000 welcomed in 2005. The previous high was 36,428 provincial nominees in 2010.”

Provincial nominee programs are being discussed as part of this month’s cross-Canada consultations on immigration levels and mix.

In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of the provincial nominee programs is underway, the ministry says. “With the knowledge gained through each of these processes, CIC will be able to work with provincial and territorial partners on a longer-term approach to levels planning.”

Traditionally, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have attracted a disproportionate share of skilled immigrants coming to Canada, a press release said, however noting that the top three provinces for provincial nominees are Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Thanks in large part to the provincial or territorial nominee programs, 26 per cent of economic immigrants accepted as permanent residents of Canada are now destined for provinces or territories other than Ontario, British Columbia or Quebec, compared to just 11 per cent in 1997.

“We understand the desire of provinces and territories to identify their own economic immigrants and that is why we have continued to increase our projected admissions for nominees each year,” noted Minister Kenney. “At the same time, we are committed to working with our provincial and territorial counterparts to continue to improve the program design, integrity, selection standards and management of the nominee programs.”

Through PNP, applications are processed within 12 months on average.

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