Canada has no plans to decrease immigration amid housing criticism, new minister says
Canada’s new immigration minister said he is open to “having a conversation” on concerns raised by some economists and groups on rising immigration targets amid a housing shortage, but said he still has no plans to lower them in the near future.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller is expected to announce Canada’s annual immigration plan later this year, which provides details on the number and categories of newcomers the country will welcome in the next three years. As per the current plan, the country aims to invite 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
“Honestly, looking at the numbers and knowing what I know and the needs that exist in Canada, I don’t see a world in which we decrease it currently,” Miller said. “We do have to have a discussion about what the steps are and be quite measured in our approach.”
Miller replaced former immigration minister Sean Fraser as part of a major cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 26.
Canada experienced record population growth in 2022, comprised of more than a million permanent and temporary residents. But critics say Canada’s current immigration target could worsen an existing housing crisis and put more pressure on public services.
Stéfane Marion, chief economist at the National Bank of Canada, said in an Aug. 2 note that Ottawa’s decision to invite so many newcomers during a period when the Bank of Canada was implementing the “most aggressive monetary tightening cycle in a generation” has created a “record imbalance” between housing supply and demand.
The working-age population surged by 238,000 in the second quarter of this year — the largest quarterly increase on record — while housing starts stood at 62,000 units, the
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