The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that as Ottawa looks to announce its new immigration numbers next month, the Business Council of Canada is urging the federal government to increase the percentage of people under the "economic" category to 65 per cent from 60 per cent. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that the business council is an association of about 150 companies, including Microsoft Canada and Google Canada. In a letter to Immigration Minister Marc Miller, the BCC points out that Australia has reserved more than 70 per cent of its immigrants for the economic stream. BCC's Trevor Neiman described the gap as a "huge discrepancy," one that could lead to Canada losing out on high-skilled workers. The council said 80 per cent of its surveyed members reported having difficulty finding highly skilled workers. As a result, 67 per cent either cancelled or delayed major investments, while 30 per cent were forced to relocate business operations outside Canada. "We understand that it is a tricky balance," Mr. Neiman said. "From the business council's perspective, Canada can be generous to those classes because it prioritizes the economic class. This is the class that is going to provide job opportunities."