Immigration Minister Mark Miller says he will scrutinize the number of international students and other non-permanent residents entering Canada amid heightened political tensions over the interconnectedness between housing affordability and immigration.
In an interview broadcast on Sunday rosemary burton liveMr. Miller said the relationship between housing and immigration is complex and that setting targets for the number of people entering Canada was discussed around the cabinet table.
“Housing has always been and continues to be a concern,” Miller told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton. There’s also simply an issue of affordability, and that’s a serious concern.”
“It’s not immigration that has raised interest rates, but volume is volume and we need to look at that.”
Canada faces major housing affordability challenges. The Conservative opposition has linked the government deficit to rising interest rates and has sought to shift the blame onto the Liberal government.
“My common sense plan is to reduce waste, limit spending and balance the budget to make it more affordable,” Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poièvre said Friday at an event in Thunder Bay, Ont. The goal is to achieve the highest interest rates.”
“And secondly, tying the amount of money cities get for infrastructure to the number of housing units they are allowed to build.”
Opinion polls suggest a shift in how Canadians think about immigrants when it comes to housing, with some saying more people are exacerbating the housing affordability crisis and increasing strain on the health-care system. This is an overwhelming majority.
Immigration Minister Mark Miller announced new rules for international students that increase the amount of money required to study in Canada.
The Liberal government has responded with a series of policies aimed at increasing housing affordability, including a flurry of agreements with local governments that encourage more housing-friendly zoning and code changes in exchange for federal funding. Mr Miller also introduced new regulations for international students in December.
This week, a report in the Canadian Press revealed that senior civil servants had warned the government that increased immigration would impact housing affordability and availability, as well as services such as health care. I made it.
Focus on non-permanent residents
In November, the government announced it would stick to its target of 500,000 new permanent residents in 2026, after raising annual immigration targets several times. Miller also said efforts in the coming months will focus on temporary residents.
“I think the challenge with the non-permanent resident target is that it hasn’t been set,” he said, noting that restrictions on temporary workers could have a serious impact on the economy.
“We need to look at it and curb it in many areas, but we also need to be clear about what exactly that means.”
He floated the idea of either reforming graduate work permits or “actually regulating the amount” of non-permanent residents.
In another interview with CBC the house On the show, which aired Saturday, Mr. Miller broadly defended the government’s approach to immigration, arguing that immigration is needed to ensure a sustainable and growing workforce in Canada’s aging population.
Miller also noted that issues such as the number of post-secondary students coming to Canada on temporary visas are shared with the provinces, which are responsible for regulating universities.
Jovial Olulaki Osundu, president of the University of Moncton International Student Association, said in a separate interview. rosemary burton live He said it’s “quite unfair to blame international students” for the housing crisis and that affordability is already impacting people considering immigrating to Canada.
“I think it will discourage people who are waiting to come here to study,” Osundu said.
Rosemary Barton speaks with Jovial Olulaki Osundu, an international student living in Moncton, about the challenges of finding affordable housing and the increasing costs of being an international student. Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis at CBCNews.ca, the CBC News app and the CBC News Network.
Miller said the federal government is considering intervening in a market where some actors are trading long-term pain in the housing market for short-term financial gain.
“I don’t want to get too wild about this, but the federal government is the only entity that isn’t profiting from this,” Miller said. He said some states need to be prepared to make changes and he looks forward to working with them.
“We need to let them know that the bars are closed, and we need to understand this. And it’s a shared jurisdiction. The federal government is prepared to do something if the bars are not closed. it’s finished.”
