Ottawa:
Canada stated Thursday it was considerably curbing immigration targets, a dramatic shift that comes as public assist for brand spanking new arrivals declines.
This marks a giant pivot for a rustic with a long-standing fame as a vacation spot for immigrants, together with financial migrants from the creating world looking for higher residing circumstances.
Canada’s inhabitants jumped 3.2 % from 2023 to 2024, the most important annual rise since 1957, and now stands at 41 million, the nationwide statistic company stated.
It stated the rise was partly fuelled by an unprecedented wave of latest arrivals.
Announcing the curbs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated the inflow helped the Canadian economic system bounce again from disruptions brought on by the Covid pandemic however the time had come to make “changes.”
“Today, we’re asserting that we are going to scale back the variety of immigrants we usher in over the subsequent three years, which is able to lead to a pause within the inhabitants progress over the subsequent two years,” Trudeau stated.
Trudeau stated Canada wanted to stabilize its inhabitants to present “all ranges of presidency time to catch up, time to make the required investments in well being care, in housing, (and) in social providers to accommodate extra individuals sooner or later.”
The immigration ministry had beforehand deliberate to let 500,000 new everlasting residents settle within the nation in 2025 and 2026.
But the brand new targets have been revised all the way down to 395,000 subsequent 12 months and 380,000 for 2026. It set the 2027 goal at 365,000.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller referred to as the plan “most likely the primary of its type,” by way of its broad efforts to regulate inhabitants progress in Canada.
According to the final census in 2021, 23 % of the inhabitants was foreign-born.
Statistic Canada stated that as of 2021 most immigrants have been from Asia and the Middle East, however an rising share have been coming from Africa.
Nearly considered one of 5 latest immigrants have been born in India, the statistics company stated.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT SENTIMENT?
A survey final month from the Environics Institute on public attitudes towards immigration discovered that “for the primary time in 1 / 4 century, a transparent majority of Canadians say there’s an excessive amount of immigration.”
Fifty-eight % of Canadians imagine the nation takes in too many immigrants, up 14 share factors from 2023, the survey discovered.
In figures launched final week, Abacus Data discovered that considered one of each two Canadians say immigration is harming the nation.
The Abacus figures additionally famous that concern amongst Canadians concerning the influence of immigration is generally linked to unease relating to a perceived lack of important sources, notably reasonably priced housing.
Miller specifically burdened the brand new plans efforts to deal with what many Canadians consult with as a housing disaster.
He predicted that revising immigration targets downwards will tackle the housing provide hole, lowering by 670,000 the variety of houses Canada must construct by 2027.
“That is critical,” Miller advised reporters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)