Carney Says Canada Could Resume a 'Controlled Increase' in Immigration

Overview

• Prime Minister Mark Carney told the New York Times that Canada’s immigration system is “back under control” and that the next question is when to resume a “controlled increase” in population, a comment reported Tuesday by multiple outlets.
• The comment arrives just over a month before Ottawa must publish its next three-year immigration levels plan, making that scheduled release the immediate test of whether permanent-resident targets will stay reduced or begin to rise.
• Recent federal plans have cut permanent-resident admissions from a proposed 500,000 down to targets of 385,000 for this year and 370,000 for 2027 and 2028, while two temporary measures will add roughly 148,000 permanent residents outside the baseline plan.
• The government has also sought to limit short-term workers and students after that group reached about seven percent of the population in October 2024 and set a goal to shrink it to five percent, with some experts urging an even lower ceiling and better tracking of permits.
• Policy pressure comes from the C.D. Howe Institute’s immigration targets council, which recommends continued reductions, a single consolidated count of permanent admissions, and stricter monitoring of temporary-resident flows, and the coming levels plan will show whether Ottawa follows that advice or shifts course.