Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec criticized the sharp increase in the number of temporary residents coming to Canada, instead saying the country should prioritize a policy focused on citizenship as its ultimate goal.

Kmiec moderated a panel on the Conservative approach to immigration at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa on April 11, where he said that a large number of potential immigrants compete for a handful of permanent resident positions.

He said that the country should therefore be focused on integrating people into its framework rather than bringing in a large number of people on a short-term basis.

Panel members advocated for lowering levels of immigration to Canada in response to the housing crisis, which has largely been attributed to the large influx of foreigners into Canada. This has been a sentiment echoed by the Liberals as well, who acknowledged the unsustainability of the rapid influx of temporary residents in Canada.

Canada Could Need as Many as 80,000 Construction Workers by 2030

Toronto Star business columnist David Olive wrote the same day as the panel that solving Canada’s housing crisis may require lowered immigration levels for at least the next few years.

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This would be able to address the demand side of the housing equation, according to him, after fixating with increased supply.

“Our total record immigration inflows of the past two years have been too much of a good thing, too quickly, for recent immigrants and longtime Canadians alike.”

Canadian rents rose an average eight per cent last year and 5.6 per cent the year before that, as per a recent report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).

For the three decades before the pandemic, the average annual rent rise was 2.8 per cent.

However, Olive did say that Canada has an acute shortage of 80,000 construction workers by 2030 to conduct a housebuilding boom, so that even if Canada chooses to reduce total immigration inflows, it needs to aggressively recruit skilled tradespeople from outside.

Even though the construction sector has built 250,000 new homes in each of the last three years, the fastest pace since the mid-1970s, that has been insufficient.

CIBC’s Benjamin Tal believes that depending on the strength of the economy, the country will need close to five million new homes to restore affordability by 2030.

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Canada Announced a 20 Per Cent Reduction in New Temporary Residents 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press conference early this month that “we’ve seen a massive spike in temporary immigration.”

“(It) has grown at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.”

Therefore, it was announced that temporary residents would be cut by 20 per cent over three years, to 2 million. Meanwhile, PR numbers will increase to 485,000 in 2024, and plateau at 500,000 in 2025 and 2026.

Olive disagrees with this, instead advocating for 300,000 PRs each year for the next few years.

For this, he cited the example of other immigrant-friendly countries that are cutting their immigrant numbers to deal with their own housing crises.

Australia, for example, is planning to reduce immigration levels by 50 pr cent over two years, after welcoming 510,000 immigrants in the year ending June 2023. The UK also announced its immigration levels are “far too high” after recent government reports of immigration climbing to a record 745,000 in 2022.

Olive says that a meaningful reduction in newcomers for a few years would give Canada the chance to develop a balanced model, to determine what types of new housing it needs and where to build it.