Overview

• At a news conference in Charlottetown, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused the government of letting foreign workers displace young Canadians from jobs.
• Statistics Canada reports youth unemployment reached 14.6 percent in July, the highest since 2010 outside the pandemic.
• Poilievre cites federal figures showing 105,000 Temporary Foreign Worker Program permits issued in the first half of 2025 against a 2025 target of 82,000.
• Immigration officials say the 105,000 includes renewals and that only 33,722 were new TFW arrivals, with total temporary-worker arrivals falling to 119,000 in January–June from more than 245,000 a year earlier.
• IRCC data also show 302,000 permits under the International Mobility Program in the first half of 2025, and the dispute is intensifying ahead of a fall update to immigration levels as Conservatives prepare reform proposals.