General
Canada Tightens Immigration After Years of Expansion
Saying that Canada had invited too many newcomers in, in too short a period of time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced lower targets to slow population growth.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, acknowledging that a rapid growth in Canada’s immigrant population over the past three years had strained resources, announced on Thursday significant cuts to the number of newcomers in coming years.
Mr. Trudeau took the unusual step of publicly admitting to getting immigration wrong and laid out his government’s plan to change policy.
He said his government had allowed in too many newcomers in too short a period of time, straining services such as housing and health care.
“We are acting today, because in the tumultuous times as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labor needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance quite right,” Mr. Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.
In response, he said, Canada would significantly slash the number of people it invites and eventually grants permanent resident status. The country will reduce its annual target for the number of people made permanent residents from 500,000 to 395,000 next year, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.
The changes would “stabilize our population growth to give all levels of government time to catch up, time to make the necessary investments in health care, in housing, in social services to accommodate more people in the future,” Mr. Trudeau added.