Thank you, Mr. Kusmierczyk.
The best immigration policy will be informed by the economic context in which we're currently living. In the jobs report that came out recently, 150,000 jobs were added to the Canadian economy in January. We're now dealing with 126% of the jobs that were lost during the pandemic. These have now been recovered. GDP is well in advance of prepandemic levels. The rate of unemployment is near the all-time low in Canada's recorded history.
At the same time, there are more than 800,000 jobs vacant in the Canadian economy. We need to be investing in training to have the domestic workforce grow. We can't meet the short-term needs of the labour force or the long-term skills gap without recruiting workers from other parts of the world.
We are also dealing with a demographic situation that should alarm all of us. Fifty years ago, there were seven workers for every retiree. There are closer to three today. In my part of the country, it's closer to two. If we don't welcome working-age families into our communities, the conversation we're going to have, a generation from now, won't be about labour shortages. It will be about whether we can afford schools and hospitals. This is a reality I'm dealing with in my own community, as a result of depopulation a few years ago. Thankfully, that trend has reversed and restored some vitality to the community I call home.
We need to continue to increase immigration levels and expand our temporary programs if we're going to meet the needs of the economy and serve the interests of Canadians.