As public opinion in the country turns against high levels of immigration, the Canadian government announced on Wednesday that it will not increase the number of permanent residents after 2026.
This is the first time since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government came to power in 2015 that immigration levels have not been increased.
Ottawa is sticking to its targets of 485,000 permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025, as announced last year. However, a statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said: “Beginning in 2026, the government will stabilise the number of permanent residents at 500,000 to allow time for successful integration while continuing to strengthen Canada’s labour market”.
Changes may also be in store for other categories of newcomers, such as temporary workers and international students, as the statement added that the government will “take steps over the next year to recalibrate the number of temporary resident admissions to ensure that this aspect of our immigration system also remains sustainable.”
In the midst of economic anxiety, immigration has been blamed in part for impacting on housing affordability and putting a strain on health and infrastructure such as transport. This was acknowledged in the release, which said: “This plan is tailored to support economic growth while balancing pressures in areas such as housing, health and infrastructure. It charts a responsible course for sustainable and stable population growth”.
“By stabilising the number of newcomers, we recognise that housing, infrastructure planning and sustainable population growth must be properly addressed,” said Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
Immigrants from India make up the largest country cohort among new permanent residents, or PRs. According to the IRCC’s annual report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, those from India accounted for 118,224, or nearly 27 per cent, of the total 437,539 PRs admitted last year.
But the IRCC release added that “newcomers are critical to driving innovation, growing the economy and supporting local businesses and communities”.
But sentiment has turned against maintaining high levels of immigration. A poll released on Monday found that for the first time in decades, a growing number of Canadians are questioning whether there is too much immigration into the country.
The poll, conducted by the independent, non-profit Environics Institute for Survey Research, found that “More than four-in-ten Canadians now strongly (23%) or somewhat (21%) agree with the statement ‘there is too much immigration to Canada,’ up 17 percentage points from a year ago and the largest one-year change ever recorded on this question”.
They were still outnumbered by those who were satisfied with the level of immigration, at 51 per cent, but the pollsters added: “Canadians are now significantly more likely than a year ago to say there is too much immigration into the country, dramatically reversing a decades-long trend. For the first time, a growing number of Canadians are questioning how many immigrants are arriving, rather than who they are and where they come from.”
“The latest Focus Canada research shows a significant jump in the proportion of Canadians who believe the country is accepting too many immigrants, marking a dramatic reversal from a year ago when public support for immigration levels was at an all-time high, marking at the time an upward trend that had been going on for three decades,” the researchers said.
