EDITORIAL: Are Liberals repeating immigration blunders?
· Toronto Sun
Canadians have every right to be concerned about the federal government’s abysmal record of failing to match Canada’s economic needs to its immigration targets.
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This given how they let those numbers get out of control, which the previous Liberal government of Justin Trudeau belatedly had to acknowledge.
But that only came after years of the Liberals condemning criticism of their excessive immigration targets as racist, even though they were repeatedly warned by public and private sector experts, including their own civil servants, that excessive immigration would drive up housing costs and put additional strain on Canada’s beleaguered health care system.
In the face of that reality, the Liberals finally reduced their annual target of accepting 500,000 permanent residents to 390,000 in 2025, and 380,000 this year, as well as putting caps on the number of temporary workers and international students.
In last week’s budget , Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this year’s target of 380,000 permanent residents will continue for three more years, plus 370,000 temporary workers and international students annually.
Highest number admitted in Canadian history
However, the number of permanent residents admitted is targeted to increase to 580,000 next year – the highest number in Canadian history.
That’s due to a one-year program to admit an additional 200,000 people as permanent residents who are already living here as temporary workers or previously admitted on humanitarians grounds.
That means the Liberals’ immigration target for next year from all categories is 950,000 (580,000 permanent residents and 370,000 temporary workers and international students).
This at a time when Canada’s unemployment rate is 6.7% , up from 6.5% in September – the highest it has been in six months.
Most Canadians want less immigration
It also comes at a time when most Canadians want immigration levels lowered.
A CTV-Nanos poll released simultaneously with the federal budget last week, which contained the Liberals’ new immigration targets, reported that 52.3% of Canadians surveyed wanted fewer immigrants and temporary residents admitted in 2027, compared to only 8.4% who wanted more and 33.5% who said the numbers should stay the same.
The reality is Canada’s immigration numbers are not remaining the same – they’re going up.
Sensible immigration contributes to economic growth but not if it exceeds the capacity of the economy to absorb it.
You would think the Liberals would have learned that lesson by now.