If you listen to Ottawa’s statements on immigration, you’ll get the impression that Canada has reversed course on the loose policies of the Trudeau years.
You’ll hear that Canada is getting its temporary resident numbers under control, and will reduce the number of permanent residents. And that priority is being given to the world’s top talent, which will help grow Canada’s economy.
However, the reality is more complicated, if you look at what the Liberal government is actually doing – and what it saying about how the immigration system truly operates today.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab says the system is designed to help build Canada's economy by attracting the world’s top talent, but reality does not align with this claim.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The Liberals have kneecapped the economic immigration program
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab claims the system is designed to attract the world’s best and brightest talent to help build the economy, but looking under the hood, it’s clear that talent, as measured by the points system, is no longer top priority.
Canada’s economic migrants used to be selected by general invitation rounds through the Express Entry system, where applicants with the highest scores were chosen based on factors like age, education and work experience. This focus on “human capital” is good for the economy, as educated and experienced immigrants are likely to be successful here, boosting average living standards and the economy.
But in recent years, other priorities started taking precedence. The government recently announced it would give priority to military recruits and workers in transport occupations, such as pilots and aircraft mechanics, for example. There hasn’t been a general draw from the Express Entry pool since April, 2024.
Last year, 42 per cent of the people invited for permanent residence through Express Entry were given priority because of their ability to speak French, making francophones outside of Quebec the highest priority group of skilled workers. The government aims to boost bilingualism, which is a worthy goal, but it doesn’t need to be achieved by dismantling the long standing and successful economic immigration program.
Temporary foreign workers aren’t temporary
Ottawa has claimed that it’s getting the number of temporary residents under control, but it has a long way to go. In 2024, immigration minister at the time Marc Miller promised the ballooning numbers of temporary residents would drop to 5 per cent of the population by the end of 2026, from just over 7 per cent. But the numbers continued to climb. The percentage of temporary residents is now slowly dropping, and Ottawa has promised yet again to get to 5 per cent by the end of 2027.
The government has made big cuts in new temporary work and study permits, but Canadians shouldn’t expect huge departures of temporary residents who are already here. They are being prioritized for permanent residency through Express Entry draws for workers with Canadian experience.
While this is a good thing for temporary residents who have begun to build lives here, again, it gets away from the idea of picking the immigrants most likely to succeed. Many in this group came in on easy-to-access student permits or as cheap, temporary labour, and they may have less qualifications than other applicants.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has ramped up deportation in recent years, yet the agency does not have a simple and reliable way to track if people on lapsed visas are leaving the country.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Meanwhile, due in part to the prioritization of temporary residents, immigration lawyers are having increasing difficulty finding pathways to permanent residence for highly skilled people outside the country.
Successful business people in their 30s and 40s, corporate executives that could help grow or set up businesses, and creative talent have seen the doors shut. Even Taylor Swift wouldn’t be able to migrate to Canada, muses immigration lawyer Shoshana Green.
The population of temporary residents remains massive, and 1.9 million people will have their work or study permits expire this year. A portion of them – it’s impossible to say how many – will be tempted to stay even if they can’t renew their permits or get permanent residency. The ever changing immigration system gives them an incentive to stick around, hoping a new legal pathway will open up.
Hiding in the shadows, undocumented workers have difficult lives and fear deportation. The Canada Border Services Agency has ramped up deportations, yet without a reliable way to track if people on lapsed visas are leaving the country – and with the CBSA having lost track of more than 30,000 people targeted for deportation – some expired permit holders will try their luck.
Canada has moved to a two-step immigration system where employers select immigrants
The government has never trumpeted the fact that under today’s immigration system, often it’s not immigration officials deciding who can live in Canada, but the local Canadian Tire or Tim Hortons manager. That’s the practical result of various federal and provincial programs that give priority to workers who have job offers.
Canada has increasingly moved to a two-step immigration process, and getting a job offer as a temporary foreign worker is often the way to get started. The number of temporary worker arrivals is expected to drop by 37 per cent this year, but a sizeable number – 230,000 – are still expected. Later, with Canadian experience, these workers will have an edge in getting permanent residency.
The concept of having employers select immigrants has been rife with problems. It tends to bring in workers who can fill short-term labour gaps, rather than those likely to do well in Canada, and is a workaround for companies that don’t want to boost wages for local workers.
Former Immigration Minister Marc Miller administers the Oath of Citizenship during a ceremony in 2024. Mr. Miller had promised the ballooning numbers of temporary residents would drop to 5 per cent of the population by the end of 2026, but the numbers continued to climb.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Employer-driven immigration has also been a magnet for scams. People seeking permanent residency through Express Entry used to receive additional points if they had a job offer, but in 2024, the immigration minister at the time Mr. Miller said the rule would be scrapped as illegal job offers were being sold for as much as $40,000. Similarly, the startup visa program, which aimed to bring in entrepreneurs looking to launch innovative businesses, was scrapped after some incubators brought in entrepreneurs with low quality and fake proposals.
However, the problems relating to job offers continue. The federal government has shifted much of the selection of immigrants to the provinces. The provincial nominee programs have many different streams that use a grab bag of approaches, but many require a job offer.
The number of new permanent residents is rising, not falling
Last fall, the federal government said its latest immigration plan “stabilizes targets for permanent resident admissions.” The target for new permanent residents in 2026 was 380,000, slightly lower than last year’s 395,000. That might lead people to believe that the numbers of new permanent residents is dropping – but that’s not the case.
The levels plan noted an additional 148,000 permanent residents would be added on top of the official targets under a one-time, two-year initiative. The majority are refugees already living here who have had their claims approved, and it’s reasonable to offer them permanent residency, given that most are unable to return to their countries of origin. The other 33,000 are in Canada as skilled temporary workers.
These people might already be in Canada, but they should still be included in the overall targets for permanent residents. An honest accounting of the numbers would show that over three years, 1,288,000 people will be given permanent resident status, which is higher than the 1,140,000 three-year target in the previous immigration levels plan. However, that would be inconvenient for the government, as it wants to show that immigration is dropping.
Nearly 400 new Canadians from 65 countries take the Oath of Citizenship at a ceremony in Toronto, in July, 2024.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Family reunification is on the back burner
Last year, a spokesperson for Ms. Metlege Diab said the federal government is committed to reuniting as many families as possible. “Family reunification is an important part of Canada’s immigration system, helping Canadian citizens and permanent residents sponsor their loved ones to live and work alongside them in Canada,“ her office said.
The reality is that for immigrants settled in Canada, if they don’t already have an application in to bring in their parents or grandparents, they can’t even get in the queue. While 24,505 people came in under this category in 2025, the target for the next three years is just 15,000 a year. In recent years, individuals have been selected randomly from periodic draws from a pool of people who applied in 2020.
It’s understandable that immigrants want to be reunited with their parents and grandparents, but there is a fiscal and economic impact to consider when bringing in older people who often aren’t in the workforce. Their families commit to supporting them financially, but they are still eligible for publicly funded health care, something that has caused friction with Alberta.
Instead, immigrants can bring their parents or grandparents over using the five-year renewable “super visa.” Children or grandchildren still need to provide financial support – and the visa holder must have private health insurance.
The government has made some progress in stabilizing the immigration system since the excesses of the Trudeau days, but much work remains to be done. Political backbone will be required to keep numbers steady and resist pressure from business lobby groups pushing for the entry of certain types of workers.
The best approach? The Immigration Minister should return to the classic points system that prioritizes general qualifications, and use the immigration system to boost overall prosperity, rather than use it as a cure-all for the country’s ailments.
The Sunday Editorial
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the awarding of additional points to people with job offers was scrapped in 2024. The decision to end the practice was announced in 2024; however, points continued to be awarded through March 24, 2025.