Canada curbs immigration as housing crisis fuels growing public discontent

In a dramatic shift in policy for the government as it tries to remain in power, Canada government has announced to “significantly” curbing immigration targets.

The move comes after scores of Canadians expressed concerns that the country welcomes too many immigrants, prompting Trudeau’s government to re-evaluate its approach.

Announcing the curbs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the influx helped the Canadian economy bounce back from disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic but the time had come to make “adjustments.”

“Today, we’re announcing that we will reduce the number of immigrants we bring in over the next three years, which will result in a pause in the population growth over the next two years,” Trudeau said.

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Trudeau said Canada needed to stabilise its population to give “all levels of government time to catch up, time to make the necessary investments in health care, in housing, (and) in social services to accommodate more people in the future.”

Canada’s population jumped 3.2 percent from 2023 to 2024, the biggest annual rise since 1957, and now stands at 41 million, the national statistic agency said. It said the rise was partly fuelled by an unprecedented wave of new arrivals.

The immigration ministry had previously planned to let 500,000 new permanent residents settle in the country in 2025 and 2026. But the new targets were revised down to 395,000 next year and 380,000 for 2026. It set the 2027 target at 365,000.

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Immigration Minister Marc Miller called the plan “probably the first of its kind,” in terms of its broad efforts to control population growth in Canada.

According to the last census in 2021, 23 percent of the population was foreign-born.

Statistic Canada said that as of 2021 most immigrants were from Asia and the West asia, but an increasing share were coming from Africa.

Nearly one of five recent immigrants were born in India, the statistics agency said.

Trudeau has long been a vocal advocate for welcoming those fleeing conflict zones, famously greeting Syrian refugees at Toronto airport in 2015 with warmth and kindness, providing them with winter jackets and saying, “You are home.” Trudeau’s government has also extended a similar welcome to refugees from Ukraine, showcasing Canada’s commitment to providing a safe haven for those in need.

The ‘Temporary Foreign Worker Program’, designed to address labour shortages by bringing non-Canadian workers into the country on a short-term basis, has expanded significantly in recent years.

However, it has faced criticism for suppressing wages and exposing workers to potential abuse, particularly due to permits that bind employees to specific employers. While business groups advocate for increased immigration and the use of temporary foreign workers to alleviate labour shortages, economists are challenging the idea that government intervention is necessary in this area.

With inputs from agencies.