November 22, 2013

Minister Chris Alexander speaks to attendees of Startup Canada Day

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Chris Alexander, spoke yesterday about the building momentum for Canada’s new Start-up Visa. It is a program unique to Canada, the first of its kind in the world, which seeks to make Canada a top destination for entrepreneurs and innovators to start up early stage, high growth businesses. With this new program, highly sought after entrepreneurs who meet the eligibility criteria, can apply for and receive permanent resident status in Canada.

The audience was a collection of innovators and business leaders assembled at Capitol Hill in Ottawa for Startup Canada Day. The day’s events were a part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013, taking place in 138 countries around the world from November 18 – 24, 2013.

Speaking to the crowd representing over 55,000 entrepreneurs, 400 partner organizations and 250 volunteers in Canada, Minister Alexander said:

“Immigration is vital to innovation and to meeting Canada’s economic and labour needs…. Our government will continue our efforts to attract the best and brightest immigrant entrepreneurs, who have the potential to build innovative companies that can create jobs for Canadians and compete on a global scale”

The start-up Visa program is a 5 year pilot project that runs from April 1, 2013 – March 31, 2018. Click here to read more about the new business incubator stream added to the Start-Up Visa program back in October 2013.