Hon. Amina Gerba: Colleagues, the federal government recently announced that it will drastically reduce the number of permanent immigrants by 100,000 in 2025. By 2027, we will be down to 365,000 from 500,000 in 2024. This has raised serious concerns within our country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the CFIB, which represents more than 97,000 small businesses in Canada, has expressed concern about the decision, noting that small and medium-sized businesses depend on high immigration to address the labour shortage.

As François Vincent, CFIB vice-president for Quebec, recently explained:

No small business goes through the process of getting a temporary foreign worker just for fun. They do it because the market cannot meet their needs.

I can also attest to this, having experienced it in my former life as an entrepreneur. I brought in French workers, including one who stayed in Canada and followed me all the way to the Senate.

The thing is, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, are the backbone of our economy. The majority of Canadian businesses are SMEs, and they make a significant contribution to the economy. In 2021, there were about 1.2 million SMEs in Canada, or 99.8% of all private sector employers.

Immigration thresholds must not be reduced without assessing the real impact on our businesses and communities and ensuring better cooperation between different levels of government.

Economic immigration programs must be strengthened, and we must explore solutions so that Canadian SMEs can continue to thrive while maintaining our commitment to sustainable immigration and proper integration into our society.

Thank you for your attention.