Immigration Minister Mark Miller said Thursday the federal government’s new immigration level plan will stabilize population growth and ease pressure on the housing market.
As CBC News reported on Wednesday, the government has cut the projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025, followed by 380,000 in 2026 and 380,000 in 2027. The number of employees is expected to be reduced to 365,000.
Under the previous plan announced last November, Canada expected to admit about 500,000 people in both 2025 and 2026.
“There are many challenges in this area,” Miller said at a press conference Thursday.
“But today, with this plan, we are … proposing managed migration that contributes to a positive future for all Canadians and can better serve Canadians and immigrants alike.”
Immigration Minister Mark Miller said the government’s new immigration plans should help ease pressure on the housing market. The federal government plans to reduce the projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025.
Statistics Canada reported in March that the population will grow faster in 2023 than at any time since the 1950s.
Across Canada, the population increased by approximately 1.3 million people from January 1, 2023 to January 1, 2024. According to Statistics Canada, 97.6 per cent of population growth is due to immigration, with just under 472,000 immigrants settling in the country last year. And the number of temporary residents, most of them foreign workers, increased by about 805,000.
According to a government press release, the new immigration level plan will reduce the population by 0.2% over the next two years. The plan also said it would “reduce the housing supply gap by approximately 670,000 homes” over the next few years.
“That means we won’t need to build another 670,000 homes by 2020.” [2027]” Miller said.
Under the new plan, more than 40 per cent of new permanent residents next year will be drawn from temporary residents already living in Canada.
“These are young workforce groups. They’re skilled, they’re here, they’re starting the process of integration, and they’re not going to put additional demands on housing, health care and social services,” Miller said. Ta.
The plan also emphasizes attracting more skilled workers. More than 62 percent of new permanent residents are involved in the economy, particularly in the health sector and trade.
Recent polls show that Canadians’ attitudes toward immigration have worsened. An Abacus survey released last week found that more than half of respondents had a negative view of the immigration system.
Asked about the rise in negative views of immigrants, Miller said it was easy to blame immigrants for societal challenges, but it “makes no sense.”
“It’s easy to blame everything on immigration. It’s also undeniable that the amount of immigration contributes to affordability.” [issues]but there are some nuances there,” he said.
“You can’t go around saying that all of society’s ills are caused by immigrants. It doesn’t make sense.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who joined Miller at the news conference, said the government needs to ensure Canadians maintain confidence in the immigration system.
“Canadians are rightly proud of our immigration system,” he said.
“As a federal government, we must ensure that our pride and trust in immigrants remains intact.”
Opponents and supporters criticize new plan
Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre said the new plan amounted to an admission that the Liberals had “destroyed” the immigration system.
“We had a managed, common-sense immigration system that had worked for a century and a half, and then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came along and completely destroyed it with his reckless actions,” Poièvre told reporters on Thursday. He told the group.
Poièvre has previously said immigration levels should be tied to housing starts.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the cuts to the immigration program show Trudeau has “failed.”
“I acknowledge there were problems with our immigration system, but I’m more concerned about my failure to take action to build decent housing and invest enough in our health care system,” Singh told reporters on Thursday. We acknowledge that there were serious problems.”
“That’s fundamentally the root problem that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have failed to address. And this tweak doesn’t address the real root cause.”
Immigrant advocacy groups said Thursday’s announcement “scapegoated” immigrants. They accused the Liberal government of making cuts to turn around sluggish poll numbers.
“We are witnessing a shameful attack on the rights of immigrants in Canada as the Canadian government continues to use immigrants as scapegoats for the housing and affordability crisis,” Immigrant Rights Network spokesperson Saeed Hassan said in a media statement. ” he said.
“Policies like these Conservatives are a painful betrayal of their commitment to immigrants, undocumented people, refugees and Canadians.”
The plan also includes temporary residents.
Miller said the plan announced Thursday includes temporary residents for the first time. Miller announced in March that Ottawa would seek to reduce Ottawa’s share of the population from 6.2 per cent of the population to 5 per cent by 2027.
To this end, the government announced in August that it would also reduce the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada.
The government has eased regulations on temporary foreign workers (TFW) amid the severe labor shortage following the coronavirus pandemic, but this decision has led to a rapid increase in the number of low-wage workers.
Ottawa has also tightened the cap on the number of student visas it will issue.
The government has come under pressure from groups representing immigrants, including the Immigrant Rights Network, which in May called on Mr. Miller to implement a proposal that would extend residency status broadly to undocumented immigrants working in Canada.
Mr Miller said this summer that the government would not follow the proposal. Hassan said Thursday that the government needs to recommit to widespread regularization.
In a media statement on Thursday, he said: “The government should abandon the dangerous path of using migrants as a political football, focus on rights, not just numbers, and address the exploitation and abuse of migrants by guaranteeing permanent residency to all. must end,” he said.
