“In our immigration plan for 2012 you’ll see our intention to maintain high levels of immigration to Canada,” Minister Kenney said speaking to reporters after addressing a national citizenship and volunteerism luncheon hosted by the Institute of Canadian Citizenship. “It has the highest per capita of immigration in the develop world.”

He did note that the immigration numbers are not likely to increase. “I don’t think we can increase it very much because the economy is a little unstable. We don’t want to bring immigrants to Canada who face unemployment. On the other hand, we do need immigrants to fill jobs in the economy now. So I suspect that our overall level of immigration stay about the same — over a quarter of a million a year.”

Kenney is also looking to make multiple reforms to the immigration system. "Where we want to be in a few years time is a flexible, just-in-time . . . system where we admit people within a year of their application," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The Canadian government has mentioned they are considering changing the point system currently in place for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Next spring, Kenney wants to change the point system to allow younger and more highly education immigrants to qualify. Furthermore, there will be more emphasis on English or French fluency.

Canadavisa.com will report on the announcement as soon as it is made later this week.