IRCC Minister of Canada, Marc Miller, says that despite the housing crisis currently faced by Canadians due to the increase in population, the Canadian government is not looking at reducing the annual immigration levels .
The new Immigration Levels plan 2024-2026 will be revealed by Marc Miller in November 2023, but he has made it clear that they will not cut down on the annual targets. Furthermore, Miller said that the federal government is open to reconsidering international student enrollment, particularly amid fraud concerns.
He said in an interview, question is whether we should raise or maintain the annual levels, but there is no question of reducing them.
“It is something that I need to look into to determine whether or not we should update them upward. However, I don’t think we’re in a position where we should be considering lowering them by any stretch of the imagination.”
Sean Fraser, the former minister of immigration now housing minister also sees immigration as a way to solve the housing crisis as he believes immigrants with skilled trades can help in building more houses.
Former IRCC Minister Sean Fraser says
“closing the door on newcomers is not a solution to the housing crunch; rather, they need to welcome immigrants who can help build more houses. When I talked to developers, in my capacity as a minister of immigration before today, one of the chief obstacles to completing the projects that they want to get done is having access to the labour force to build the houses that they need.”
It is important to note that the annual immigration levels plan is only set for the number of new permanent residents to be landed, not the temporary residents.
The Canadian population grew by more than one million individuals in 2022, with 437,180 new permanent residents and 607,782 temporary residents contributing to the increase. 263,180 new permanent residents have already landed in the first half of 2023 and still on track to surpass the annual target for 2023 which is 465,000.
TD issued a report at the end of July warning that “continuing with a high-growth immigration strategy could increase the housing shortage by approximately 500,000 units in just two years.”
A leading financial institution, the TD Bank, released a report, observes that economists have been warning about the economic consequences of an aging population. The report says that the increase in immigration has provided a solution, and government policies did produce results, but this sudden population gain based on immigration might have gone “too far, too quickly.”
The federal and provincial immigration departments has put more attention on welcoming individuals in Skilled Trades (which include plumbers, carpenters, welders, electricians, e.t.c) to get more help in building homes. Miller says that construction is one of the industries with the most severe labour deficit, and immigrants can help construct the new homes needed to alleviate the housing crisis.
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