Canada's Immigration Changes: Canada made a Big Bet on Immigration

But now, amid a housing affordability crisis and strain on social services, Canada's government is rolling up the welcome mat for some immigrants. It has capped the number of permanent residents it will welcome, announced a temporary limit on international student visas, and pledged to shrink the proportion of the population made up of temporary immigrants such as foreign workers.

A “massive spike” in temporary immigrants has exceeded “what Canada has been able to absorb,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters this month. “That’s something we need to get back under control.”

Immigration has long drawn high levels of support in Canada, a consensus that cuts across much of the political spectrum. However, there are signs that this consensus is shifting. In a September poll by the Environics Institute, 44 percent of respondents agreed “there is too much immigration to Canada” — up 17 points from 2022, the largest year-over-year change since the question was first asked in 1977. Many expressed concern that immigration was driving up housing costs.

“The shift has been in the public’s confidence about how immigration is being managed,” said Keith Neuman, a senior associate at the institute. “It’s not a shift in how people feel about immigrants. … It’s not about the type of people coming or their impact on the culture.”

Failure to restore that confidence, analysts say, could jeopardize the immigration consensus.

“I think we need to address these issues,” said Mike Moffatt, an associate professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School in London, Ontario, “because if we don’t, we are absolutely putting that consensus at risk — and that consensus has served Canada really well.”

The plan was bold: By 2025, Canadian officials announced, the country would take in nearly 1.5 million new permanent residents, primarily economic immigrants selected through a points system. But behind the scenes of that 2022 announcement, federal public servants had warned that rapid population growth could strain the health-care system and housing affordability. Housing prices in Canada are the highest in the G-7, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. For many millennials, homeownership feels increasingly out of reach.

Much of Canada’s population growth is tied to the skyrocketing number of temporary immigrants such as international students. There were more than 1 million international students in Canada in 2023, up 245 percent from a decade earlier and 60 percent since 2019. Governments have encouraged their arrival, as international students pay higher tuition fees, which is crucial for colleges and universities facing budget cuts.

Analysts say the roots of Canada’s housing affordability crisis are complex and fall under the jurisdiction of all levels of government, encompassing issues such as zoning restrictions and shortages of skilled construction workers. Critics have called on the government to align immigration numbers with the country’s infrastructure.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Canada would set targets for the number of temporary immigrants for the first time. The government announced a temporary cap on undergraduate study permits and increased the amount of money that international students must have to study in Canada.

The federal budget plan introduced this month also aims to boost housing construction to ease demand. Limiting temporary immigration “will help to alleviate some of the upward pressure on rent,” said Avery Shenfeld, a chief economist at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

“Immigration is critical to Canada’s long-term success,” said Jessica Kingsbury, a spokeswoman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. But for some, like Simren Preetkaur, a student at Conestoga College in Kitchener, the changes are troubling.