immigration let's talk about it in the last two years our population has grown really fast like Baby Boom fast and increasingly Bad actors like fake colleges and Big Chain corporations have been exploiting our immigration system for their own interests so we're doing something major we're reducing the numbers of immigrants that will come to Canada for the next 3 years today I'm going to let you in on what happened where we made some mistakes and why we're taking this big turn there are two kinds of immigration in Canada the one you probably think of most is
permanent immigration like when families come to Canada to settle and call at home every year the government determines the right number of permanent residents that we want to admit that's how it's been done for decades but a plan that only talks about permanent immigration misses the other pathway temporary immigration temporary residents are people who come to Canada for a limited time time like International students temporary workers and so on they come to work a job or go to school when the job is done or when they finish their degree most return home some apply to
stay as permanent residents but most return home so back to this year's plan historically Canada's annual immigration plan just looked at permanent residents the number of temporary students and workers that we admitted each year was left to the demands of the economy was usually a small proportion of our population so it's never been a part of the long-term immigration plan but after the pandemic our economy came roaring back quickly and we needed a lot of workers fast Canada is in the middle of a huge labor shortage temporary foreign workers became such a significant part of
our Workforce that it would be a mistake not to include them when we plan our immigration levels so this year we did exactly that for the first time we laid out a plan that sets targets for both permanent and temporary residents this way we're getting the full breakdown of people coming into our country so we can prepare the homes and infrastructure needed to support them like I said immigration is based on demand when we set our targets we look at every province in territory we ask the premier what are the gaps in your Workforce is
your population growing or getting older we field calls from businesses CEOs economic experts all sharing their thoughts on where we should set our targets we've had a chronic shortage of labor for the for the last decade it is the number one issue of all manufacturers across Canada so we think it needs to be more you know push the pedal to the floor to bring more people into Canada because Ontario is facing a generational labor shortage 380,000 jobs are going unfilled it's no surprise that every sector has different wants and needs when it comes to immigration
but after the pandemic they all came to us with the same message after 2 years with closed borders we need more people more workers fast so we brought in more workers and it was the right choice it worked our economy grew restaurants and stores reopened businesses kept running but most importantly in spite of lots of economists predictions we avoided the worst case scenario a recession but some saw that as an opportunity to profit to game the system we've seen way too many large corporations doing this government says the program has been used to get around
hiring Canadian workers in some instances far too many colleges and universities used international students to raise their bottom line there are the diploma equivalent of puppy mills that are just churning out diplomas there is Fraud and Abuse and it needs to end because they could charge these students tens of thousands of dollars more for the same degree and then there are really bad actors who outright exploit people who Target vulnerable immigrants with Promises of jobs diplomas and easy Pathways to citizenship promises that would never come true looking back when the post-pandemic boom cooled and businesses
no longer needed the additional labor help as a federal team we could have acted quicker and turned off the Taps faster now it is time to make the adjustments to stabilize the immigration system that we need and get it working right for Canadians for right now immigration is primarily a federal job we have the levers to re it in so we are this is a big change a major cut to immigration reducing permanent immigration Levels by at least 20% new string of measures to clamp down on temporary immigrants that means a decrease in international students
temporary forward workers Canada's new immigration plan is straightforward lower the number of new immigrants coming into Canada both temporary and permanent we're prioritizing permanent residents with the skills we need like healthcare workers for our hospitals and construction workers who will build more homes and those temporary residents who are already in Canada some will apply to stay in Canada as permanent residents since they're already here established and working the added pressure put on communities is very low or they'll leave Canada when their temporary residency expires reducing our population some temporary residents may turn to our Asylum
system when their visa expires as a shortcut to stay in Canada those claims will be analyzed and processed and if their claim fails they'll be sent home between the amount of people coming and going we'll effectively pause population growth for the next 2 years then from 2027 onwards it'll balance out and slowly start increasing again at a sustainable Pace in fact that gets us back to the population growth path we were on before the pandemic this pause is going to give our economy and our Comm communities the chance to catch up with things like our
plan to build Millions more homes that's not stopping but now we'll have a little more breathing room as we build we'll see more corporations investing in Canadian workers and youth rather than relying on cheap foreign labor our cap on International students is already bringing rental prices down in big cities and as we keep that cap in place rents will keep coming down we're making the system work for Canadians and for newcomers rather than for the big box stores chain restaurants immigration consultants and Sham colleges that exploit it immigration is a great thing and we're lucky
that so many people dream of coming to our country fulfilling that dream depends on having a good job a decent place to live and health care that you can access when you need it we have to make sure our population isn't getting out ahead of those things
