Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, unveiled his new cabinet this morning.

Sean Fraser has been appointed as the country’s next Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister.

Fraser is a 37-year-old former lawyer from Nova Scotia who was elected to the House of Commons for the first time in 2015. In 2019 and 2021, he was re-elected. He succeeds Marco Mendicino, who is now Canada’s Minister of Public Safety. Mendicino had been in charge since November of this year. Fraser represents the “Central Nova” riding, which includes a portion of Halifax. He practiced commercial litigation and international dispute resolution before entering politics.

He has a law degree from Dalhousie University, a Master of Science from St. Francis Xavier University, and a Master of Public International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

With their cabinet in place, the Liberals can focus on governing Canada and bringing the country out of the coronavirus outbreak. On November 22, Parliament will resume.

A cabinet is a group of ministerial advisers who set the policies and priorities for the federal government. The Prime Minister issues a mandate letter to each minister.

It lays out the goals and priorities that the Prime Minister wants each minister to follow during the government’s tenure in office.

Since winning the 2015 federal election, Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada has been in power. They obtained a majority at the time, and have since won minority administrations in 2019 and the September 2021 election. Any measure introduced in Parliament by a majority administration can be passed. Minority governments require opposition backing.

The Trudeau Liberals have continued the Conservative Party of Canada’s process of expanding immigration levels, which began in the late 1980s. However, in recent years, the Liberals have boosted immigration levels even more aggressively in order to provide even more help to the Canadian economy.

Shortly after taking power in 2015, the Liberals said that they would aim to welcome at least 300,000 immigrants every year, up from the Conservatives’ annual total of around 250,000 in the preceding decade. The Liberals then made the shocking announcement in October 2020 that they would establish the new immigration baseline at over 400,000 arrivals per year. This increased target is intended to aid Canada’s economic recovery following the pandemic.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will continue to focus on its priority priorities in the immediate term. In a meeting with organizations representing Canadian immigration lawyers and advisors on October 21st, the IRCC’s three current goals are meeting the aim of 401,000 new permanent residents by 2021, family reunion, and resettling Afghan refugees.

Meanwhile, through Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and Quebec’s programs, IRCC and provinces and territories will continue to invite immigration candidates. The processing of applications will continue as well.

Trudeau will issue new mandate letters to his ministers as the next big event. Each federal department’s policy initiatives, including IRCC’s, will be guided by the letters. The Liberals made various immigration promises during the election campaign of 2021. They vowed, for example, to abolish citizenship costs. They also want to speed up the application process and make changes to Express Entry, such as expanding the number of immigration options for temporary foreign workers and international students.

The next Immigration Levels Plan is expected to be unveiled by March 2022, based on prior history. Except in the case of elections, this plan is normally announced by November 1st each year. There should be no surprises in the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, as it will most likely reiterate Canada’s goal of welcoming over 400,000 new immigrants each year.

Around the same time, the federal government is expected to release Budget 2022, which might include key immigration priorities.

Stakeholders should anticipate a continuation of the Liberal Party’s aggressive immigration policy, which has been in place since 2015. However, the Liberals will face significant immigration difficulties throughout their new mandate. These include determining how they would address growing application backlogs caused by the pandemic, maybe altering Express Entry and the Parents and Grandparents Program, introducing the Municipal Nominee Program, and waiving citizenship fees.

Despite having a lot of immigration priorities on its plate, it’s safe to conclude that the federal government will find it easier to manage the next years than the previous, extraordinary 20-month pandemic period.