(UPDATE: Oct. 24 at 10:30 am): Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre has said Trudeau's government "broke our immigration system" and today's "flip-flop is a massive admission of failure" by the Liberals.
The prime minister has "suddenly admitted that radical, uncontrolled immigration and policies related to it are partly to blame for joblessness, housing and health care crises," Poilievre added.
Trudeau's "last-minute pre-election reversal" cannot be believed, Poilievre said.
The leader of the opposition has previously pledged to introduce a "mathematical formula" for immigration that factors in the likes of available housing before determining visa numbers.
(UPDATE: Oct. 24 at 7:55 am): The prime minister and his immigration minister have confirmed that the federal government plans to cut immigration numbers next year.
Justin Trudeau and Marc Miller said that, in 2025, there will be a target of 395,000 permanent residents, down from the planned 500,000.
The target was 485,000 this year.
In 2026, the target will be 380,000, down from 500,000. In 2027, meanwhile, the target will be 365,000.
Miller, speaking at a press conference in Ottawa alongside Trudeau, said the cut in immigrants will ease the housing crisis.
"We are an open country," Miller said. "But not everyone can come to this country."
In a press release accompanying the announcement, the ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said the plan will “pause population growth in the short term to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth in the long term.”
The ministry emphasized that migration “is essential to our country’s economic success and growth,” stressing that the post-pandemic surge in newcomers helped “prevent a recession.”
It also called the plans for fewer migrants over the next three years “transitional,” explaining that they will ease “pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services.” Trudeau later wrote on X that the plan to "significantly reduce" migrant numbers will be "temporary" and represent a "pause."
According to Miller’s ministry, the new plans will result in a population decline of 0.2 per cent in Canada in both 2025 and 2026, before growing by 0.8 per cent in 2027.
Canada has had one of the fastest rates of population growth in the developed world in recent years, hitting 41.3 million earlier this year.
The growth is almost entirely due to international migration.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said it expects Canada’s temporary resident population to decline over the next two years by about 446,000 per year. In 2027, it expects an increase of a little over 17,000.
“Today’s announcement is the next step in our plan to address the evolving immigration needs of our country,” Miller added. “While it’s clear our economy needs newcomers, we see the pressures facing our country, and we must adapt our policies accordingly.
“These changes will make immigration work for our country so that everyone has access to the quality jobs, homes and supports they need to thrive. We have listened to Canadians, and we will continue to protect the integrity of our system and grow our population responsibly.”
(Original story: Oct. 24 at 6 am): Justin Trudeau is set to announce a reduction in the number of migrants admitted to Canada over the next few years.
According to reports – the first of them in the National Post newspaper – the prime minister will declare his intention to bring down permanent resident numbers starting in 2025.
The paper’s claim, which has since been corroborated by the Canadian Press news agency, is that Ottawa wants to change its target from 500,000 permanent residents in 2025 to 395,000, a reduction of 23.5 per cent. The target was 485,000 this year.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Trudeau will discuss his plans today alongside Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
The prime minister, writing on social media, also said on Thursday: “We’re going to have fewer temporary foreign workers in Canada. We’re bringing in stricter rules for companies to prove why they can’t hire Canadian workers first.”
The Liberal government has previously announced its intention to reduce the proportion of temporary residents from 6.5 per cent earlier this year to five per cent over the next three years.
It comes after years of criticism of the Trudeau government’s policies on migration, with political rivals, economists and others accusing Ottawa of bringing in far too many people.
Canada’s population grew by 1.27 million people in 2023, the fastest rate since 1957.
The country’s surging population has been blamed for declining quality of life, stretched public services and extraordinarily high house prices.
Even Trudeau himself said earlier this year that migration had caused “so much pressure” and brought down wages for Canadian workers.
In recent months, Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre has also begun attacking the prime minister’s migration policies. In September he said Trudeau had “opened the floodgates” and created “a massive humanitarian crisis.”
BC Premier David Eby has likewise bemoaned his province's rapid population growth, almost all of it down to international migration.
Canada had historically been one of the most pro-migration countries on Earth, becoming something of an anomaly in recent years as other developed nations, including the US, grew wary of welcoming large numbers of foreigners.
Recent polls, however, suggest Canada has joined the rest of the pack on migration. One recent study found a clear majority – 58 per cent – of Canadians think the country is taking in too many immigrants.
