Canada’s Prime Minister has been pro-immigration since the get go. Under his leadership Canada increased its annual immigration intake and set a target of processing more than a million immigration applications in a 3-year period. The reason for this progressive approach to migration is that Canada says that the skills migrants bring with them gives the country an international competitive edge.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said that says Canada’s immigration policies are creating huge advantages advantage over the United States when it comes to attracting business.

“We’re a country that’s open to immigration right now,” he said in November. “Being able to get the top talent and draw on big pools of well-educated, ambitious, forward-thinking and diverse people is a hell of a competitive advantage that I don’t see the U.S. matching anytime soon.”

Trudeau made the remarks in an appearance at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Montreal, which brought together women CEOs, thought leaders, entrepreneurs and senior representatives of the Canadian government.

Trudeau said Canadians are “positively inclined” toward immigration and said they know from Canada’s experience over generations and centuries that immigrants have “created our success.”

“We are able to take in almost one per cent of our population every year in immigration — a little over 300,000 — and we’re able to do that because it’s a system that Canadians have confidence in; it’s rules-based, it’s controlled,” he said.

Trudeau’s Liberal government also unveiled its new immigration levels plan, which will see admissions of new permanent residents through Canada’s economic, family and refugee / humanitarian programs reach nearly one per cent of Canada’s population in 2021.

Of the 350,000 immigrants that Canada is planning to welcome that year, nearly 60 per cent will arrive through Canada’s economic immigration programs. A majority of economic immigrants are slated to arrive through Canada’s Federal High Skilled immigration programs and its Provincial Nominee Program.

Canada’s updated immigration levels plan calls for welcoming 310,000 new permanent residents this year, a number that will rise to 330,800 in 2019, 341,000 in 2020 and hit 350,000 in 2021.

Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, said the plan will provide vital support for Canada’s economy, which is facing widespread labour shortages as the Canadian population ages and a rising number of workers retire.

“Growing immigration levels, particularly in the Economic Class, will help us sustain our labour force, support economic growth and spur innovation,” he said.