Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a video message, had admitted that his government’s immigration policy had some flaws.
On his YouTube channel, Trudeau explained a big turn in policy for immigration to Canada. Canada now plans to reduce the intake of permanent and temporary residents. The surge in population has been one of the reasons for the housing affordability crisis and infrastructure problems in Canada, as per opinion polls mentioned in a BBC report.
As per federal data, 97% of Canada’s population surge last year was due to immigration. This is in itself a huge number, however, its real pinch is when viewed with the rising unemployment numbers in Canada, which has increased to 6.5%. For young people, the unemployment rate stands at over 14% in Canada.
Trudeau’s New Policy
Trudeau said the aim is to “pause population growth for the next two years.” He added that the population in Canada has grown really fast, like “baby boom” so this measure has been taken to balance out the pace post 2027 in a sustainable manner.
His video has also mentioned the growth of fast and increasingly bad actors in the state, such as fake colleges and big chain corporations that have “exploited the immigration system for their own interests.”
Trudeau, in his video, has justified the need to invite immigrants to move to Canada, in order to meet the labour shortage faced by his country, in order to avoid recession. He went on to admit that in the post-pandemic boom, when the demands were fulfilled, the federal government should have “turned off the immigration taps quicker.”
“And then there are really bad actors who outright exploit people who target vulnerable immigrants with promises of jobs, diplomas and easy pathways to citizenship promises that would never come true,” he said.
New Immigration Policy
Canada’s new plan announced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) involves reducing the proposed 500,000 PRs in 2025 to just 395,000 now. For 2026, the target has been changed from another 500,000 to 380,000. For 2027, the target is now 365,000, from the previous estimate for PRs of 485,000.
The move marks a significant change from Canada’s decades of old open immigration policies which has relied on newcomers to meet to fill labour gaps.
Trudeau and his government have often faced criticism for increasing immigration without creating the infrastructure and services to provide for them.
