Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff said on Friday in Vancouver that Canada needs to expand the family-class portion of its immigration system, which allows Canadians to sponsor family members who want to become permanent residents of Canada. He also said that the Canadian immigration system needs to be "streamlined" which would include a processing system based in Canada.

Canada currently takes in an average of 260,000 newcomers a year, a number which Mr. Ignatieff says should be increased to "at least" 350,000 newcomers per year. He feels the current immigration processing system is too cumbersome and isn't properly matching up applicant qualifications with skill shortages and isn't doing enough to help foreign professionals qualify for practice in their field of expertise in Canada.