It is important to stick with a plan and not change it every week

Immigration minister Jason Kenney says that rising level of unemployment may force federal government to block the way for thousands of foreigners who are looking towards Canada to make their new home.

Kenney said in an interview that though Ottawa is maintaining to accept between 240,000 to 265,000 permanent residents this year, the current scenario may force the government to reconsider the target in months to come.

Currently, the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent in Canada and about 8 percent in Ontario.

Kenney said that at this point of time, Canada, which accepted 247,000 permanent residents last year, is standing alone by maintaining its levels for the intake of permanent residents.

Kenney told the Commons immigration committee that he doesn’t know of any other developed country which is still planning to keep up its levels of permanent residents’ intake. He said that the economy is changing on a weekly basis and the whole situation needs to be taken care of very closely.

Next month, the federal and the provincial immigration officials will meet in order to decide whether there is a need to rethink over the target and subsequently propose a revised target if needed.

In between all this, Kenney made one thing clear that he would always prefer to stick with the target as these immigrants will act as fuel to economy once the economy stabilizes.

The worrying unemployment numbers are dominating parliamentary debates as politicians of the opposition are demanding the minority Conservatives step up their economic recovery plans before the multi-billion dollar stimulus package kicks in.

Prime Minster Stephen Harper said that his government will analyze the situation in months ahead and that it is important to get along with a plan and not change it every week.