Good morning, Madam Chair, and honourable members.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today to provide testimony as part of your study on attracting and empowering global talent to strengthen Canada's economy.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is the country's largest business association, with an active network of approximately 400 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, representing nearly 200,000 businesses of all sizes, in all sectors and in most federal ridings across the country.
Immigration is a key driver of economic growth in Canada, but the capacity of the country to attract and empower global talent has been disrupted. Our competitiveness as a top destination for global top talent is being eroded, and we're losing out.
According to the 2026 TD Bank article titled “Canada's Silent Brain Drain”, “Canada has increasingly functioned as a staging ground” for the U.S. labour market, because “it selects skilled immigrants, integrates them into the labour market, and then loses them to larger and more lucrative U.S. ecosystems.”
Among Canadian-born students, exit rates at the top of the skills distribution are roughly double those at the bottom. For international students, top performers are twice as likely to leave as Canadian top performers.
This is not due to poor domestic compensation. Top graduates earn well by Canadian standards. They leave because compensation and upward mobility for their skills is simply higher elsewhere.
A few months ago, I was invited to provide testimony as part of your study on Canada's immigration system. At that time, I highlighted the fact that Canadian businesses are under strain due to real—or the risk of—tariffs shutting down sectors of our economy and aggressive changes to the U.S. tax system, coupled with the requirement that Canadian businesses diversify to other markets. Those risks have not changed.
At a time when Canadian businesses are having to compete in ways they haven't before, we cannot afford to continue eroding Canada's capacity to attract and retain global talent. We need an immigration system that is anchored in the needs of our economy and will help Canadian businesses compete in a rapidly evolving global economy.
Immigration policy is an economic policy. This is the reason the Canadian Chamber of Commerce advocates for practical, evidence-based policy solutions that align immigration with Canada's current and future workforce needs. We need to improve system efficiency and integrity, as well as to ensure that businesses of all sizes can access the talent required to compete and grow.
There is no debate that Canada will continue to need immigration and immigrants for the positive effect they have in developing our country. Immigrants are vital in many sectors, such as health care, in which 25% of registered nurses, 43% of pharmacists, 37% of doctors and 45% of dentists are immigrants.
The government is advancing nation-building projects in which immigrants account for 41% of architects, 40% of civil engineers, 34% of all transportation sector workers, 16% of electricians and 12% of steamfitters and pipefitters. We need more of that.
In the wake of the release of the national AI strategy, I would like to remind this group that two of the three globally known pioneers of AI, nicknamed the “godfathers of AI”, are immigrants to Canada.
Canada's attractiveness is based on its ability to rebuild a system that is favourable to Canadians, as well as global talent who decide to move and establish life here. Restoring public confidence in the system involves placing the debate where it should be. Precisely how can our immigration system make Canadians and Canada's economy better off?
At the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, we've established the immigration council, with members from across industries in all regions of the country to advance those questions. Canada requires an immigration strategy that reflects the economic realities, sector-specific workforce needs and regional demographic pressures of our country.
Our members in rural and remote parts of the country are particularly distressed by current policies and uncertainty, which are having a corrosive effect on their local economies, businesses and industries. Without a workforce, they literally have to close shops and restaurants, and we've heard concerns about keeping hospitals fully functional.
Our colleges, universities and research centres are also facing pressures with the current uncertainty around programs. We support a more coordinated and accountable international student program that protects Canada's global reputation, improves student outcomes and better aligns them with pathways to permanent residency in which the labour market needs and institutional capacity are met.
We believe that restoring public confidence is not simply about reducing and restricting immigration but more about implementing an efficient immigration system that upholds integrity and aligns better with the country's needs.
I look forward to your questions. Thank you.