Federal government to stabilize immigration targets in 2026

The Canadian government says it plans to level the number of new permanent residents in the country in 2026 after increasing the targets set several times in recent years.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Wednesday that the government would be aiming to welcome 500,000 new permanent residents, stabilizing after record highs were surpassed in both 2021 and 2022.

The three-year plan tabled by Miller showed targets for 2024 and 2025 increasing to 485,000 and 500,000 before holding steady for the following year.

The Liberals have been aggressively increasing their targets over the years, a move that has come under increasing scrutiny amidst a building pressure to address a nation-wide lack of available and affordable housing.

Miller said that those concerns are being balanced against the positive contributions new immigrants make to Canada’s economic growth and labour market.

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“These immigration levels will help set the pace of Canada’s economic and population growth while moderating its impact on critical systems such as infrastructure and housing,” he said at a Parliament Hill press conference on Wednesday.

Miller clarified that increasing the number of new permanent residents does not have a direct proportional effect on the demand for housing as they remain crucial in the building of new housing stock.

The intention of this latest announcement, Miller said, is to take the time to understand what the full impact actually is.

Experts say the move appears to be acknowledging the limits of the potential for positive impact on the economy that has been flagged by economists and academics since 2015.

“I think the eyes of Canadians are more intensely focused on immigration. They’re not xenophobic, but they’re asking us to get a little more organized,” he said.

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“We’re going to have to take the next year and dive into some of the more microeconomic forces that are driving the sentiment that Canadians are expressing to us.”

When asked why the Liberal government isn’t leveling immigration rates sooner, Miller said that they plan to stay the course until they have further information.

The minister said his department will additionally be taking a “closer look” at temporary resident immigration, such as for international students and temporary workers, to ensure that growth is sustainable but has provided few details about what exactly the government will be looking at.

The majority of new immigrants expected to make Canada their new home through this newly tabled plan through the economic immigration stream.

Meanwhile, the number of individuals entering the country through refugee or humanitarian status is expected to drop slightly from 89,865 in 2024 and 80,750 in both 2025 and 2026.

This report was created with files from The Canadian Press 

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