“In the month of September the share of Canadians that believe that Canada is admitting too many newcomers attained yet another record with nearly two in three Canadians saying there were too many,” wrote the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). What’s more, the federal government’s immigration policies have spurred this escalating and worrying trend in public opinion.
Canada’s immigration rates and admission of temporary residents has surged since the beginning of the pandemic. Only after building Canada’s temporary resident population to an unsustainable 2,662,000 people, did the Liberal government, earlier this year, begin to put limits on temporary resident admissions. And only last month did they reduce targets for permanent and temporary resident admissions for 2025 and beyond.
Unfortunately, much damage has already been done. Residential vacancy rates are dangerously low in many markets, rental costs have escalated and house prices remain beyond the reach of a huge segment of the population. Health and education services, too, are strained beyond capacity.
All of these deficiencies, of course, are not wholly due to population growth, but there is no doubt that rapid population growth has greatly contributed to the problems. According to Statistics Canada, in 2023, total population rose by 1,272,000 people, with 97.6% of the growth due to immigration and temporary resident admissions. The growth rate was the highest since 1957.
Immigrants are responsible for none of this; the Trudeau government is. Students, temporary workers and new immigrants are simply looking for better opportunities and a better life here than they have in their home countries. They are only doing what many Canadians, too, would do if in their position. The Liberals deliberately jacked up targets for newcomers, and failed to provide for, or even plan for, the increased demand for housing and for services that was sure to come.
In the spring of 2022, in The Housing Supply Report, the CMHC noted that though construction had expanded in 2021, “Housing starts have struggled to keep up with population growth in some CMAs, especially Toronto.” It warned that this could adversely impact cities like Toronto and Vancouver where housing affordability challenges were already notable. It soon did impact cities across the country.
As housing availability and affordability deteriorated, along with the availability of medical and education services, the Liberals, grudgingly at first, began to develop programs to spur housing construction, but they stubbornly resisted economists’ calls to reduce immigration targets and to cut temporary resident admissions. Excess demand continued to multiply over many months.
In 2024, the government finally relented. The percentage of temporary residents had risen to 6.2% of Canada’s population in 2023, said Minister of Immigration Mark Miller last spring. He announced plans to reduce it to 5% of the population. In October, the government reduced targets for permanent residents from 500,000 for 2025 and 2026 to about 395,000 and 380,000 respectively.
In their news release, the department said it “took decisive measures” to alleviate the shortage of workers after the pandemic. It added that the new immigration plan, “alleviates pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services.” But why did they not take “decisive measures” to reduce the immigration levels when the housing and other pressures began to emerge in 2022?
Since then, Canadians and immigrants have encountered severe problems securing an affordable place to live and accessing healthcare. It is no surprise, that critics have begun to warn that the government risks destroying the immigration consensus in Canada.
The number of Canadians believing that we are receiving too many immigrants has quickly escalated. In a series of polls for CAC, Leger found that the 35% of Canadians in March 2019 said there are too many immigrants arriving, growing to 65% by September 2024. Over just the six months preceding September, the rate increased sixteen percentage points. That is likely unprecedented.
That this dramatic change in public opinion occurred now is no coincidence. An Abacus Data report from October 2024 found that a strong majority of Canadians believe that the number of immigrants is negatively impacting the cost and availability of housing, as well as access to healthcare, congestion and traffic, and social services. Most of the numbers have grown since November 2023. Abacus also notes that scarcity, not xenophobia is driving the resistance to immigration.
Abacus Data’s David Coletto, CEO, and Eddie Sheppard, VP Insights, concluded, “If any public consensus existed on the benefits of immigration in Canada, it’s clear that consensus is now broken.”
The Liberals’ immigration policies have shattered that consensus! That perhaps has negative implications for future relationships between Canadians and newcomers. The Liberal government has created a mess. Clearly, Canadians must elect a government that will capably and objectively manage immigration targets, while we continue to welcome immigrants.
