After increasing its immigration targets several times in recent years, the federal government announced Wednesday it’s aiming to maintain its target of welcoming 500,000 new permanent residents in 2026.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the target is meant to support the labour supply while easing pressures on housing and health care.
“What Canadians are telling us, what economists are telling us, is that we have to dive into the micro-economic impacts of immigration,” Miller told a press conference.
The government has steadily increased its immigration targets in recent years to boost the workforce and support an aging population.
Last year, the government released a plan to grant permanent residency to 465,000 people in 2023, a figure that’s set to rise to 500,000 by 2025. The immigration target for 2015 was under 300,000.
Miller said Wednesday the government is now levelling off its planned immigration intake to see what sorts of adjustments can be made to Canada’s immigration programs.
“Those numbers were needed but now we have to take a look at them, where we feel they’re reasonable and plateauing in a space where we think it makes sense,” he said.
“We have a lot of complex calculations that we need to make and measures we need to adjust. I think it’s sometimes politically convenient to come out with a hammer-type approach… It’s more on the level of finer surgery that we need to adjust.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller arrives to hold a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Canada’s population grew by a record 1 million people in 2022. The population also surpassed the 40 million mark earlier this year.
That population growth is coming at a time when the country is also facing a housing shortage. Almost 5.8 million new units will have to be built by the end of the decade in order to fix the housing supply, said a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released in September.
Miller admitted the housing shortage was a factor in the decision to level off immigration targets. He said it was not the main factor.
“If that were the sole reason, it would totally be misunderstanding the challenges I think we’re facing as a country,” he said.
Many experts have said that the root causes of this housing shortage are not related to immigration. Red tape and anti-development sentiment at the municipal level, for example, can lead to major delays in housing projects.
Miller maintained that Canada will need to maintain immigration levels in order to provide the workers who can build houses.
Earlier this year, the government announced changes to the express entry system that would prioritize tradespeople for permanent residency. Miller said those changes have attracted roughly 1,500 tradespeople from abroad.
Canada to stabilize immigration levels at 500K per year
Featured VideoAfter progressively increasing the country’s immigration targets a number of times, the federal government announced Wednesday that it will stabilize its target of new permanent residents in 2026 to 500,000 people per year going forward.
But Phil Triadafilopoulos, a political science professor who specializes in immigration at the University of Toronto, said high levels of immigration will still put pressure on the housing market.
“I don’t know whether pausing at a historically high level of immigration is really going to do much to ease affordability issues around housing,” he told CBC News. “Those pressures are going to persist, I think.”
The government’s target for economic immigrants is holding steady at 60 per cent of total immigration, according to the new plan.
Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said the government should boost that portion to 65 per cent.
“Unfilled job openings for highly skilled and educated professionals remain stubbornly high. If not addressed with urgency and ambition, this shortage of leading talent will have a large and lasting impact on Canadian technological innovation, labour productivity and capital investment,” he said in a media statement.
Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s immigration critic, said the Liberals’ plan lacks transparency.
‘While the government’s immigration levels plan document talks about ensuring newcomers can successfully resettle in Canada, there are no plans attached to make that happen. Once again, it’s all talk and not action,” she said in a media statement.
OTTAWA – Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told a federal inquiry today that parliamentarians who were targeted by Chinese hackers could have taken immediate protective steps if they had been informed sooner.
It emerged earlier this year that in 2021 some MPs and senators faced cyberattacks from the hackers because of their involvement with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which pushes for accountability from Beijing.
In 2022, U.S. authorities apparently informed the Canadian government of the attacks, and it in turn advised parliamentary IT officials — but not individual MPs.
Genuis, a Canadian co-chair of the inter-parliamentary alliance, told a federal commission of inquiry on foreign interference today that it remains mysterious to him why he wasn’t informed about the attacks sooner.
Liberal MP John McKay, also a Canadian co-chair of the alliance, said there should be a clear protocol for advising parliamentarians of cyberthreats.
Several weeks of public inquiry hearings will focus on the capacity of federal agencies to detect, deter and counter foreign meddling.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
TORONTO – After being drafted in the third round (61st overall) of the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, forward Charlie Sharp decided to put his dream of playing professional football on hold.
He spent a couple of weeks training with Toronto FC that summer and then returned for a fifth year at Western Michigan University.
“It was a really tough decision for me,” Sharp recalled. “Because I knew that going back to school, nothing was guaranteed. I could get injured or not perform well, but it seemed to really work out for me.”
Sharp scored 19 goals and added eight assists as a senior, leading the Broncos to a 17-2-3 record and a third-round appearance in the NCAA tournament where they eventually lost to national runner-up Notre Dame on penalty kicks. Sharp, who scored or assisted in nine of his last 10 matches, ranked first in the NCAA with 0.95 goals per game and 2.30 points per game and was tied for second with seven game-winning goals.
The 23-year-old Sharp, whose rights were retained by Toronto, spent time with the TFC first team in this year’s pre-season and signed with Toronto FC II in February. On Tuesday, he joined TFC 2 teammate Nate Edwards, a wingback from Brampton, Ont., in signing a first-team contract.
“We are happy to officially elevate Charlie at this time,” Toronto GM Jason Hernandez said in a statement Tuesday. “His strong mentality and mature playing style will be a welcomed addition to our young player group in the first team.”
Both players signed contracts that run through 2025 with club options for 2026 and 2027.
The deals were completed in advance of Friday’s MLS roster freeze but took their time working their way through the league office.
“A bit of unorthodox path that I chose,” said Sharp. “But I think you’re seeing it more now with players that get drafted.”
“I’m super-happy,” he added. “I think I made the right decision.”
As a senior, Sharp was one of three finalists for the 2023 MAC Hermann Trophy, which honours the top NCAA soccer player. The award eventually went to Clemson senior forward Ousmane Sylla.
The six-foot-five 185-pounder from Brighton, Mich., finished his collegiate career with 42 goals 22 assists, and 106 points in 89 games. He ranks first in career goals and games and tied for fourth in assists for Western Michigan.
In returning to Kalamazoo for a fifth year, Sharp also succeeded off the pitch by completing his degree in computer information systems.
Despite some niggling injuries, Sharp has five goals and two assists in 16 appearances with TFC 2 this season. He made his first-team debut off the bench May 15 against Nashville.
“I had a lot of friends and family watching,” he said.
“It’s been a journey,” Sharp added. “I’ve been thankful for every step of the way.,”
The 21-year-old Edwards has one goal and two assists in 23 games with TFC’s MLS Next Pro team.
“He has been a top performer with TFC II this season and we look forward to his continued growth within our environment,” said Hernandez
Edwards, who also joined TFC 2 in February, made his first-team debut May 21 in Canadian Championship play against Ligue1 Quebec champion CS Saint-Laurent.
The five-foot-eight 167-pounder split his college career between Syracuse University and Purdue University Fort Wayne. As a senior in 2023, he had one goal and four assists for Syracuse and was named to the 2023 All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Academic Team and College Sport Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team.
At Purdue University Fort Wayne, he had two goals and an assist in 40 appearances across three seasons (2020-2022) with the Mastodons.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
CALGARY – A Calgary man who pleaded guilty to sharing Islamic State recruitment videos and propaganda on TikTok will spend the next six years behind bars.
Zakarya Rida Hussein was sentenced during a court appearance on Friday after he pleaded guilty to one of four terrorism-related charges.
Hussein admitted that he owned social media accounts that posted ISIS recruitment videos and propaganda.
He also admitted to sharing a bomb-making video online.
The man was arrested in June 2023 after a joint investigation led by the RCMP and the Calgary Police Service.
Hussein will need to submit DNA results and will be under lifetime ban from owning firearms after he’s released.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
