(Ottawa) Ministers from the federal government and various provincial governments are meeting Friday in Montreal to discuss ways to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada.
Posted at 8:19 a.m.
Laura Osman
The Canadian Press
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller is set to meet in person with his provincial and territorial counterparts for the first time since announcing an unprecedented plan to limit the number of new temporary residents.
The goal is to curb the rapid growth of Canada’s population by reducing the number of temporary residents. If this group represented 6.2% of the population in 2023, the objective is for this proportion to be limited to 5% over the next three years.
The new targets will be put in place over the summer, once provinces and territories have had the opportunity to provide feedback on the issue.
However, labor economist Mikal Skuterud believes they should not be considered in isolation.
“We can’t do that. We have to look at the whole picture,” says the economist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Mr. Skuterud was one of the first to warn the federal government that the massive increase in the number of people migrating temporarily to Canada for work or study should be moderated.
Minister Miller announced his intention to reduce the number of international students by capping new admissions for two years in January.
Ottawa is also trying to speed up the processing of asylum applications. In the recent federal budget, the Liberals also included legislative measures intended to speed up the eviction process when these requests are refused.
The last and largest category that has not yet been addressed is temporary work permit holders. Mr Miller has previously argued that this is a workforce the job market has become dependent on in recent years.
In 2018, there were 337,460 temporary work visa holders. In 2022, this number increased to 605,851.
Mr. Skuterud attributes the increase to changes to permanent residency criteria, designed to address specific labor shortages. These changes have encouraged less-skilled workers to come to Canada temporarily in the hope of obtaining permanent residency.
“That’s what attracts a lot of people to come, and that creates this problem for the (non-permanent resident) population,” he explained.
Mr. Skuterud believes the problem could be reversed by creating a more predictable path to permanent residency for newcomers.
Fewer visas
A key priority for ministers will be to negotiate how to award fewer temporary visas, which employers now rely on.
Either way, course adjustment will come with some complications.
In Manitoba, for example, Ottawa’s announcements about reducing temporary immigration sparked a massive increase in applications to the permanent residency nominee program.
Earlier this week, Minister Miller granted Manitoba’s request to extend federal work permits for some 6,700 newcomers whose visas were set to expire by the end of the year, to give them time to apply. permanent residence in Canada.
The new temporary visa target will also significantly slow population growth.
While this could ease some pressures on housing costs and availability, it could also lead to labor shortages, observed CIBC executive director of economics Andrew Grantham in a published report in April.
“Restrictions on population growth could force companies to offer higher wages to encourage people to stay or join the workforce. We could lose some businesses that are simply not profitable if they are unable to hire less expensive foreign workers,” Mr. Grantham wrote.
The labor needs of each province are expected to play an important role in Friday’s discussions. The new targets for temporary visas will be published in the fall.
