Finding the right model to manage an economic immigration program is certainly a topical challenge. Canada has a long tradition of managing an economic immigration program, but despite 40 years of experience the Canadian system is today in a state of flux. Change is nothing new within the Canadian system. Since its beginning in the 1960s, there has been a consistent tension between pressures to respond to the demands of the labor market and a sense of how immigration might meet the longer-term needs of the country.

In the past two years a series of measures have been implemented, some administrative and others legal. Most dramatically, in 2008, legislative amendments brought the promise of far-reaching change. But what really can these measures achieve? Do they really address the causes of the present dilemmas? What can new immigrants expect as a result of the recent changes? And does this mean that the Canadian model for selecting economic immigrants-the human capital model-has been proven a failure?