Canada will welcome between 260,000 and 285,000 immigrants in 2015, the highest figure in Canada's history, announced the Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander on Friday.

Canada will admit 181,300 immigrants for economic considerations, 68 thousand due to family difficulties, and 29,800 on humanitarian grounds, said the Minister.

Nearly 65 percent of all admissions will be on economic grounds. "We are recruiting a higher calibre of economic immigrant than we have ever seen before," Alexander said. "This [increase in the proportion of economic immigrants] is a goal we've had for some time."