By Mata Press Service

Canadian immigration lawyers are calling for a national business council to overhaul how entrepreneurs and investors are admitted into the country,  warning that policy pullbacks have weakened the nation’s ability to attract capital, talent and long-term growth.

The call comes in a new report by the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA), which argues that Canada’s retreat from business-focused entry pathways has left the country ill-equipped to deal with declining productivity, worsening affordability pressures and intensifying global competition for mobile capital.

The report, Engine of Growth: How a Canadian Business Immigration Council Can Support National Prosperity, urges the federal government to create a permanent, federally chaired Canadian Business Immigration Council to design, monitor and refine programs aimed at entrepreneurs and investors.

Without such reform, CILA warns, Canada risks falling further behind peer economies that are aggressively courting business founders and high-net-worth individuals.

Once a major pillar of Canada’s economic strategy, business immigration has been dramatically scaled back. In the early 1990s, Canada admitted roughly 30,000 business immigrants annually, accounting for up to one-quarter of all economic-class admissions. Under the federal Immigration Levels Plan for 2026 to 2028, that number has been reduced to just 500 principal applicants per year.

Ottawa’s pullback followed years of concern about program backlogs, weak oversight and uneven economic outcomes. But the CILA report argues that those problems stemmed from governance failures rather than from business immigration itself.

“Canada repeatedly abandoned programs instead of fixing them,” the report states, pointing to abrupt closures, long processing delays and a lack of performance metrics that undermined confidence among applicants, provinces and investors alike.

The report places business immigration squarely within Canada’s broader economic challenges. While headline economic growth has continued, real GDP per capita fell by about two per cent between 2020 and 2024, marking the worst five-year decline since the Great Depression.

CILA attributes much of that erosion to weak business investment in productivity-enhancing assets such as machinery, technology and research, even as the labour force expanded rapidly. Entrepreneurs and investors, the report argues, can help close that gap by bringing both capital and management expertise, provided programs are structured to reward real economic contribution.

Investor-focused pathways could channel funds into areas where Canada faces chronic shortages, including housing, infrastructure and early-stage innovation capital. Entrepreneur pathways, meanwhile, could support new firm creation and job growth, particularly outside major urban centres.

Affordability concerns feature prominently in the report. Statistics Canada data cited by CILA show that more than one-third of Canadians struggle to meet basic financial needs, while nearly half are worried about housing costs.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimates that housing starts must rise to as many as 480,000 units annually through 2035 to restore affordability. The report suggests that well-designed investor programs could help finance affordable housing and public infrastructure projects, reducing pressure on public budgets.

Health care funding is another area where CILA sees potential fiscal benefits. With 6.5 million Canadians lacking a family doctor and medical wait times costing billions in lost wages each year, the report argues that revenue generated by business activity and investment could help bolster federal transfers to provinces.

Statistics Canada research cited in the report shows immigrant-owned firms pay roughly 10 per cent more in taxes per employee than Canadian-born-owned firms, making them net fiscal contributors.

The report also highlights the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in trade diversification, a priority for Ottawa as it seeks to reduce reliance on the United States market. Immigrant-owned small and medium-sized enterprises are more likely to export, and immigrant entrepreneurs account for more than 16 per cent of Canada’s goods exporters.

Canada is also facing a looming business succession challenge. Nearly 60 per cent of small and mid-sized business owners are aged 50 or older, and more than three-quarters plan to exit within the next decade. The transition places more than $2 trillion in business assets at risk, particularly in smaller communities where buyers are scarce.

CILA argues that experienced foreign entrepreneurs could help preserve these businesses and local jobs, if pathways were aligned with succession needs rather than focused narrowly on start-ups.

Despite these opportunities, Canada’s current system is widely viewed as dysfunctional. The federal Start-Up Visa Program faces processing times exceeding 10 years, with a backlog of more than 43,000 applicants. Ottawa halted new applications in late 2025 while it considers a replacement.

Other federal pathways, including the Self-Employed Persons Program, are paused, leaving provinces to operate a patchwork of business streams that often clash with federal decision-making. The report documents cases where provincially approved entrepreneurs were later refused federal permits, disrupting regional economic plans and eroding trust.

At the same time, global competition has intensified. More than 20 OECD countries have launched new visas for entrepreneurs since 2010. Jurisdictions such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates are offering fast-track routes for founders and investors, often with clearer timelines and fewer administrative hurdles.

To address these failures, CILA proposes the creation of a Canadian Business Immigration Council reporting to the immigration minister. The body would bring together federal departments, provincial governments, economists, legal experts and private-sector stakeholders to guide program design and oversight.

The council would set clear performance benchmarks, oversee pilot programs, conduct regular reviews and publish annual public reports. Rather than relying on one-off reforms, the report calls for an iterative approach that allows programs to evolve based on evidence and outcomes.

The goal, CILA says, is not to return to high-volume intake, but to focus on value, accountability and economic alignment.

“Canada does not need perfect policy,” the report concludes. “It needs a system built to learn, adapt and improve.”

Whether Ottawa adopts that approach could determine whether business immigration remains a sidelined policy area or becomes, once again, a tool for long-term economic resilience, CILA said.