Immigration Beyond the GTA: Toward an Ontario Immigration Strategy

This report discusses how developing an Ontario Regional Immigration Strategy could improve the province’s efforts to ensure a broader distribution of newcomers in support of economic development.

Document Highlights

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) comprises 45 per cent of Ontario’s population and welcomes 77 per cent of the province’s newcomers. Meanwhile, 55 per cent of Ontario vies for just 23 per cent of its newcomers. This comes at a time when economic and fiscal pressures are looming across the province due to population aging, a low birth rate, and high rates of outmigration in some cases. Immigration can help alleviate these pressures.

Immigration Beyond the GTA: Toward an Ontario Regional Immigration Strategy discusses how developing an Ontario Regional Immigration Strategy could improve the province’s efforts to ensure a broader distribution of newcomers in support of economic development. The need for a strategy is underscored by the fact that Ontario census metropolitan areas have taken great strides throughout the 2000s to boost their immigration levels but continue to welcome well under their proportionate share of newcomers.