Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 27th, 2025

[Daniel Hengeveld]

The average investment size, measured in terms of jobs, would be anywhere from about 50 to 80 people per investment. Sometimes we have much larger ones; sometimes we have much smaller ones. Typically, in terms of a capex investment, you'd be looking at anywhere from $5 million to about $25 million per investment.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Thank you.

Over the last couple of years, as the immigration system collapsed from effectively an open border policy to what we have today, have you seen patterns or changes in the clients and the needs? Have you seen a decrease in the number of companies that are showing interest in coming to Canada?

[Daniel Hengeveld]

It works in two ways. Early in the evaluation process, as I mentioned earlier, there are a variety of factors that companies measure and evaluate, immigration being one of them. Changes and challenges with those immigration policies mean that companies may rank Canada lower when they look to make that location decision.

The second way in which it impacts businesses is for companies that have established here and have used one of the business streams to bring in a senior leader. They are looking at growing their business but may face some challenges, for instance, in converting their one-year visa into permanent residency. They're then saying, because of these challenges, “I don't know if I can continue to grow my business in Canada”. Therefore, we might see a pause. We might see a slowdown versus their growth projections and so on and so forth.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Let me pick up on that. You're saying that you have noticed a difference because of the uncertainty of whether these people can actually get permanent residency here?

[Daniel Hengeveld]

It's fair to say that the uncertainty is playing into business decisions.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Has that impacted, in your view, the level of investment that is coming to Canada?

[Daniel Hengeveld]

It's impossible to put an exact number on it, given the variety of factors involved. I think it's safe to say, though, that the clients we are working with, who I am advocating on behalf of today and who are experiencing these challenges, see it as a risk to their growth pattern and are therefore considering either slowing that growth or potentially pausing it.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Typically, in these companies that you represent or help come to Canada, on average is it one or is it more than one person who wants to obtain status in Canada?

[Daniel Hengeveld]

If I understand your question correctly, how many of the number of...? Typically, it's a very small number per investment or per company that's expanding to Canada. It's one to two senior leaders.

Their goal is to bring their technical expertise, their leadership and their business model to Canada, establish the expansion here, and then hire, scale and bring Canadian workers on board. Sometimes—and in fact, for the vast majority—these are fairly temporary, where it's going to be one, two, three or maybe five years until they get the company up and running.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

You have one minute.

[Daniel Hengeveld]

Once they feel that they've hit that level in confidence, they might then return to their home country.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

It's a situation where for most of these companies that are coming here—I'm going to differentiate that these are substantial companies with substantial capital assets—the leadership that comes here doesn't typically stay in Canada, then.

[Daniel Hengeveld]

To clarify, some do. Some may choose to stay here, build a life here and bring their family. Others may choose to return to their home country. It varies.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Do you have any data on that at all?

[Daniel Hengeveld]

It's safe to assume that roughly one-third of the companies that Toronto Global interacts with and brings to Canada access business immigration programs. It's safe to assume that of that one-third, the majority are using these business pathways and are considering staying as part of that or potentially returning. I'm afraid I don't have an exact number for you right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you so much.

Next, we have Ms. Zahid for five minutes. That will be the last of our five minutes and then this panel will be completed.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Basa, I would like to ask you a question on the out-of-status caregivers. These are the people who have come to Canada legally, have been contributing to our economy and paying taxes and have only fallen out of status due to paperwork processing delays or to some language requirements.

Do you believe there should be an amnesty or a program to bring these people into status? What should that look like?

[Allan Ralph Basa]

We believe that amnesty should be given for these caregivers who have fallen out of status because of systemic issues in the processing, which consists of delay and the low cap. The government should address that. The immigration program the government has must take into account the impact that it caused to the caregivers for this matter.

These caregivers have spent a very long period of time working legally and they have complied with all the requirements. For one reason or another, which is not their fault.... They came here legally. They played the game fairly with the rules that were set when they came in and all of a sudden they were caught on some requirements. They were caught on inequitable delay in processing, causing them to be out of status. The government must consider that. That defines fairness. That defines justice in the immigration system, which Canada is known for.

I truly believe that this must be seriously looked into because that has happened in the past and that is continuously happening now. When one submits an application—for example, to the home care worker immigration pilot—and the work permit given by the government is only for one year, by the time he or she receives an acknowledgement of receipt, she already has fallen out of status.

There are some multifarious considerations. For example, the government should look into the impact of low cap and long processing times as to the situations of these caregivers.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Basa, the new home care worker immigration pilot that launched in March 2025 lowered the language requirement and granted permanent residence on arrival—steps that many caregivers have been telling us for a long time that they hoped for.

From your direct work with hundreds of caregivers and their families, what has been the most positive impact you have seen so far with that program?

[Allan Ralph Basa]

The program has highlighted the long-awaited lowering of eligibility requirements. The impact is positive, but the system is not prepared for this program vis-à-vis its capacity to process the number of caregiver permanent residency applications. There is a very limited cap and there are systemic issues along the way, such as the work permit expiring even before the receipt of AOR. These are technical things that we should consider. That is a consequential impact of their program.

Now, government, for example, should consider—

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

You have one minute.

[Allan Ralph Basa]

—that upon the acceptance of their applications, they should give these caregivers a provisional open work permit until the government is able to acknowledge receipt of their applications—which, by the way, are complete and in compliance with all the requirements—so as to prevent the continuous falling out of status of these caregivers, who have been awaiting their permanent residency for five or 10 years, suffering from legal separation and all this stuff. Again, the impact is positive, but there are technical issues, matters that the government should consider, that they should adjust on the ground in consideration of their limitations as to their capacity to process the number of permanent residency applications and a very limited cap for the caregivers.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Basa. I really appreciate your input.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you to all the witnesses.

Thank you for your presentations.

[Fred Davies, Conservative, Niagara South, ON]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order. I'm sorry to interrupt.

Mr. Hengeveld made mention that he didn't have the stats in front of him. I wonder if he would be able to file a report with the committee to follow up on my question on the number of people who come in under his investment portfolio and stay in Canada versus those who leave Canada.