Canada election: Where do all the parties stand on immigration caps?

The outcome of Canada’s federal election could shape immigration levels in the country following recent cuts by the Liberal government and significant growth following the COVID-19 pandemic.

While immigration was not the most pressing issue concerning voters ahead of this year’s election, it still ranks among the top 10, polling shows.

An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News published Thursday put immigration as the seventh-most important issue, according to Canadians. Inflation, cost of living, relations with other countries, health care and housing ranked higher.

The Liberal government has recently slashed immigration levels to freeze population growth, with caps announced last fall. Canada’s population hit 41 million last year, and federal data shows it could hit 80 million in 50 years.

Among the changes unveiled in October 2024, Ottawa said it will reduce the number of new permanent residents to the country by 21 per cent from 500,000 to 395,000 in 2025.

According to the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, this number is expected to fall further to 380,000 by 2026 and 365,000 by 2027.

Ottawa’s immigration plan is also looking to reduce the number of temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers, to five per cent of the population by the end of next year.

With that target, the federal government estimates that Canada’s temporary population will decline by roughly 874,124 people between 2025 and 2027.

Canada’s population, which has been rapidly growing due to increased immigration, currently stands at 41.59 million, as of March 26.

Here’s what each party is proposing it will do about immigration.

The Liberals are planning on keeping the current immigration caps.

Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney said on Sunday that Canada has “not lived up to the bargain” after a surge in immigration post-pandemic.

“There’s not adequate housing, not everyone who came here for an education was getting an education that they would expect,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa after triggering the federal election.

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“The new caps that have been put in place on much lower levels of immigration, including temporary foreign workers, including foreign students and those caps or something similar to those levels, in my judgment, need to remain in place until we’ve expanded housing,” he said.

Carney added there’s not a “predetermined point” at which those caps would be adjusted or removed.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has also spoken in favour of capping immigration.

Speaking in Gatineau, Que., on Sunday, Poilievre said the Liberals have ruined Canada’s immigration system.

“These out-of-touch Liberals inflated housing costs, drove up the cost of food, pushed two million people to food banks, unleashed crime on our streets, ruined our immigration system,” Poilievre said.

“We’ll cap immigration and stop the radical Century Initiative, which seeks to almost triple our population to 100 million people, a crazy idea still endorsed by Liberals and their top advisers. That will end when I am prime minister.”

The Century Initiative describes itself as “a national, non-partisan charity with a mission to enhance Canada’s long-term prosperity, resiliency, and global influence by responsibly growing the population of Canada to 100 million by 2100.”

“We will also keep fraudsters and criminals out of our country and we will crack down on bogus claims,” Poilievre said.

“On immigration, like everything else, we will put Canada first for a change.”

On Wednesday, during a campaign stop in Montmagny, Que., Poilievre said temporary foreign workers should be allowed in “rare circumstances where there are not enough Canadians to fill jobs,” such as for farming or small businesses in the tight labour markets.

The New Democratic Party wants to bring change to the immigration system so that it prioritizes Canadian workers.

”For decades, Conservatives and Liberals have created an immigration system that works well for big corporations and CEOs,” said NDP campaign spokesperson Anne McGrath in a statement to Global News.

“When we need foreign workers, we need to be clear: if someone is good enough to work in Canada, they’re good enough to live in Canada.”

McGrath said that an NDP government will “strike a blue ribbon panel to properly review the question of appropriate immigration levels.”

The Bloc Quebecois wants to reduce temporary immigration and has been asking the federal government for repartition between provinces for “a fair distribution of asylum seekers.”

In 2023, the Bloc presented a motion in the House of Commons calling on the Liberal government to review its immigration targets starting in 2024 after consulting with provinces.

The motion said the review should be based on the provinces’ “integration capacity, particularly in terms of housing, health care, education, French language training and transportation infrastructure, all with a view to successful immigration.”

A spokesperson for the party told Global News that motion is the Bloc’s position on immigration.

The Green Party wants to change the immigration caps based on consultation with the provinces.

“Immigration levels must be established in coordination with the provinces and on the basis of Canada’s ability to absorb, integrate, house and support newcomers,” said Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault in a statement to Global News.

“Greens recognize that irrespective of caps, our southern border and events in the United States will push significant numbers of people to seek a better life in Canada,” he said.

“As a result, in coordination with provinces and territories we must balance ethical and pragmatic considerations.”

Pedneault added that without provincial alignment and resources, “caps will do little but give the false impression that things are under control, whereas they are not.”