Just two years ago, Canada threw wide its doors to immigrants – the annual immigration plan which was announced on Nov 2, 2022, aimed to usher in 14.50 lakh permanent residents over a three year period (2023-2025). Today’s announcement is a sharp contrast, showing a comparative drop of 21% as Canada aims to invite only 11.4 lakh permanent residents over three years starting from 2025.
Setting the tone for the drop in the immigration level targets Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Our immigration system has always been responsible and it has always been flexible.So, we are acting today because in the tumultuous times as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labour needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance right. With the plan we’re announcing today, along with previously announced measures, we’re making sure our immigration system works better.”
With elections forthcoming – protecting the interests of Canadians was at the forefront of the message sent both by PM Trudeau and Immigration Minister, Marc Miller. Trudeau emphasised that “We need others to step up and do their part” – he was also referring to provinces and territories. “Too far, too many corporations have chosen to abuse our temporary measures, employing and exploiting foreign workers while refusing to hire Canadians for a fair wage, all while under the watch of provinces. Some colleges and universities are bringing in more international students than communities can accommodate, treating them as an expendable means to line their own pockets. That’s unacceptable, and it needs to change.”
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, said Trudeau. Trudeau’s closing statement was that “Immigration is essential for Canada’s future, but it must be controlled and it must be sustainable with today’s annual immigration plan.”
For the very first time, the three-year levels plan has also incorporated target levels for temporary workers (which includes international students and temporary workers). “This plan gives a better snapshot for people to look at total population growth and the growth of temporary residents, as well as the measures that we’re putting into place,” said Miller who proceeded to roll out the immigrant level numbers.
The new levels plan has set the targets at 3.95 lakh permanent residents in 2025 (earlier target was 5 lakh), 3.80 lakh for 2026 (earlier target was 5 lakh) and aims to have a further reduced target of 3.65 lakh in 2027. Miller said, “The current plan results in a net reduction of 1.05 lakh permanent residents immediately in 2025.”
The levels plan also supports efforts to reduce temporary resident volumes to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026. The number of temporary residents in Canada has grown exponentially over the last few years from about 437,000 individuals in 2019 alone to about 1.2 million (12 lakhs) in 2023,
Given temporary resident reduction measures announced over the past several months, Canada’s temporary population is expected to decrease over the next few years as significantly more temporary residents will transition to being permanent residents or leave Canada compared to new ones arriving.
Miller said, “Consistent with our plan, over 40% of permanent residents will come from the temporary residents that are already in Canada. These people are a young labour pool. They’re skilled. They’re here, they’ve begun their process of integration and it doesn’t place the additional demands on the housing, healthcare and social services that we see with someone that comes directly from another country. It makes sense, we have a large pool, there are ways to integrate that highly talented pool into permanent residency.”
Specifically, compared to each previous year, we will see Canada’s temporary population decline by 4,45,901 in 2025, 445,662 in 2026 and have a modest increase of 17,439 in 2027, said Miller.
Both Trudeau and Miller emphasised that the measures that were put in place such as the cap on the number of international students or the stricter regulations for hiring of overseas temporary workers are already showing results. While Miller admitted that immigrants cannot be squarely blamed for the housing crisis and stress on the economy, he summed up the levels plan, “It respects a responsible plan to grow immigration. Well. The net effect is a pause on population growth. It is something that shows that we’re listening to Canadians.”