Despite an October pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to drastically reduce immigration, the country’s population continues to grow at a high rate, a new report finds.
The Feb. 6 economic study from Desjardins titled ‘Is Canada’s Population Slowing According to Plan?’ finds that while international student admissions have decreased in the last four months, Ottawa is still allowing about the same amount of temporary foreign workers and permanent immigrants into the country.
The bottom line, the report authors say, is that the population growth isn’t about to change without “more aggressive reductions.”
Desjardins said the only success so far is reducing international students with about 280,000 fewer in 2024 compared to 2023 — plus around 468,000 fewer new non-permanent residents in total including temporary migrants who have returned home voluntarily.
However, Desjardins says temporary foreign workers numbers remained “essentially unchanged,” with a decrease of just 1%.
The Trudeau Liberal government pledged in October to reduce the number of permanent residents by 20% — from a planned 500,000 down to 380,000.
But Desjardins, pointing to federal data, wrote “we have yet to see declines in PR admissions,” adding “the federal government is still far from achieving its population targets.”
The report also says asylum seekers numbers have gone up in recent months — due in part to international students claiming to be refugees after their visas expired — with 28,000 allowed in last year, a 20% increase from 2023.