The day after Mark Carney’s budget promised a return to unsustainable immigration levels, Statistics Canada revealed a higher unemployment rate.
asserted
Canada → promise → rate
Canada’s national unemployment rate rose in October to 6.7%, and youth unemployment spiked to 13.7%.
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unemployment → rise → %
Amid the numbers in the budget delivered on Thursday was the government’s plan to accept 580,000 new permanent residents in 2027.
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plan → deliver → 2027
That includes 380,000 people coming through the usual channels and converting 200,000 people in the country on temporary work or study visas into permanent residents.
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people → include → residents
The figure of 580,000 people would be the largest number of permanent residents ever recorded in Canada.
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figure → record → Canada
The Prime Minister defended his government’s plan as sustainable during a news conference on Friday.
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Minister → defend → Friday
“Yes, we believe it is in line with sustainable immigration,” Carney said.
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Carney → believe → immigration
“We have taken back control of immigration.”
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We → take → immigration
That’s a tough case for Carney and the Liberals to make.
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Carney → ’ → ?
Numbers may be down from the highs of 2023 and 2024, but they remain much higher than historical norms.
uncertain
they → remain → norms
From 2006 through 2017, before the Liberals began ramping up immigration levels, Canada saw an average of 262,400 new permanent residents.
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Canada → begin → residents
In the five years after the pandemic drop, the Liberals quickly ramped numbers up again to an average of 438,000 and an absolute high of 483,600 in 2024.
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Liberals → ramp → 2024
Admitting 580,000 new permanent residents in one year is more than double the historical average of 262,400.
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Admitting → admit → 262,400
Double the historical norm
Conservative MP and party immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said the numbers Carney is looking to bring in are simply too high.
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Carney → say → ?
“Where are those people going to live?
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people → go → Where
Where are they going to live?
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they → go → ?
Where are they going to go to the doctor?” she asked.
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she → go → doctor
Given the unemployment numbers released Friday, where are they going to work?
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they → give → numbers
We have more than 1.5 million unemployed Canadians looking for work, and Carney’s government wants to flood the zone.
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government → have → zone
Bringing in 580,000 people in one year is like adding a city the size of Hamilton, Surrey or Quebec City.
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Bringing → bring → Hamilton
Thinking this wouldn’t put pressure on the job market, the housing market or the health-care system would be a mistake.
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this → think → market
It’s the same mistake the Liberals made between 2021 and 2025.
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Liberals → ’ → 2021
Now, after saying they had learned their lessons, they are looking to repeat the recent past.
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they → say → past
“Right now, the levels need to come way down,” Rempel Garner said.
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Garner → need → ?
Where will they live?
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they → live → ?
Rempel Garner’s position is the right one, but it’s not the one the Liberals are taking.
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Liberals → ’ → ?
Unemployment remains high, housing starts are stalled and, despite recent price declines, housing remains unaffordable.
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housing → remain → declines
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projects just 233,000 housing starts across the entire country in 2027.
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Corporation → project → 2027
In addition to the 580,000 permanent residents that Carney wants to add, his government is projecting between 370,000 and 644,000 temporary residents to enter Canada in 2027.
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residents → want → 2027
The math simply doesn’t add up.
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math → add → ?
There aren’t enough homes for the number of people the government plans to bring in.
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government → be → people
This isn’t blaming immigrants for the country’s problems; it’s a simple case of bringing in more people than our housing stock or job market can handle.
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stock → blame → people
Voters turning against the plan
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Voters → turn → plan
The Liberal mishandling of this issue is causing a major change in public opinion.
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mishandling → cause → opinion
As recently as 2022, just 27% agreed with the statement that “there is too much immigration to Canada” while 69% disagreed.
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% → agree → Canada
Now, a poll by Environics and the Diversity Institute found that 48% of Canadians believe we have too much immigration in Canada, including 46% of first-generation immigrants and 51% of non-white Canadians.
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we → find → Canadians
If the Carney government pushes ahead with these unsustainable numbers, support for immigration will fall further.
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support → push → immigration
Canada needs immigration, but it needs to be at sensible levels.
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it → need → levels
What the government unveiled this week misses the mark.
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unveiled → unveil → mark
The Aporia
