THE PAST year of lockdowns and travel restrictions has been terrible for migrants. In the first six months of 2020 members of the OECD, a club mainly of rich countries, issued half as many residence permits as they did the year before, a record decline. But one country is determined to buck the trend. In October Canada's government said it hoped to admit 1.2m new residents from 2021 to 2023, equivalent to 3% of the population. The targets for this year and next are a total of 100,000 higher than originally planned. Even among high-immigration countries, Canada stands out. Australia has kept its annual immigration target steady at 160,000. Employers in New Zealand should give priority to training people already in the country, says its immigration minister. Canada, by contrast, is gung-ho. Immigration is "a key element" of Canada's economic recovery and its long-term prosperity, says Marco Mendicino, the minister in charge of it. Without it, the country will age. Within 15 years the ratio of workers to pensioners will fall from three to two.
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