Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller speaks at a press conference about the government's border plan as Public Safety and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc listens, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Dec. 17, 2024.
Canada does about-face on immigration
Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced last Friday that Ottawa will pause new parent and grandparent sponsorship applications to address a 40,000-application backlog. Simultaneously, thousands of migrant caregivers find themselves in limbo as the government hits the brakes on proposed pathways to permanent residency, leaving many without legal status.
The moves represent the latest reversals of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambitious immigration policies, implemented in 2016, which sought to expand family reunification and increase overall permanent residency applications to 305,000 a year. Those numbers climbed further after the COVID-19 pandemic when the government admitted over 437,000 new permanent residents and 604,000 temporary workers in 2022, and 471,550 new permanent residents and 1,646,300 temporary workers in 2023. During the same period, the government also finalized close to 2,000,000 study permits. Those permits have now been capped at 437,000 for 2025.
Immigration is seen by some as the undoing of Trudeau, who announced his resignation on Jan. 6 after nine years in power. The PM’s ambitious post-pandemic immigration targets brought the population to 40 million, but housing shortages, rising rents, and stretched social services fueled voter discontent. Traditionally low opposition to immigration soared from 27% to 58% in the past two years, “the most rapid change over a two-year period since Focus Canada began asking this question in 1977,” according to Environics.
Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller.
Hard numbers: Ottawa pledges fresh immigration crackdown, Gold and ‘Black Gold’ deliver a surplus, US makes big power grid pledge, China cracks down on opioid precursors
5: Canada says it will clamp down further on temporary immigrants, part of its strategy to reduce their share of the population to 5% over the next three years, as frustrations grow about the pace of immigration. Last year, temporary workers made up 6.2% of the population. So far this year, the level has climbed to 6.8%. In recent years, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau encouraged the arrival of more temporary workers to help employers fill pandemic-related vacancies. But the country’s broader housing affordability crisis has fueled concern about the pace of immigration. A recent Leger poll showed 60% of Canadians said there were “too many immigrants.”
461 million: Gold and “black gold” helped deliver some sparkling economic news for Canada this week. Defying analyst predictions, the country registered a trade surplus in June, exporting $461 million more worth of goods than it imported. It was the first time that had happened in four months. Analysts pointed in part to surging exports of gold as well as oil, which finally began flowing from the Trans-Mountain Pipeline after years of delays.
2.2 billion: The White House has earmarked 2.2 billion to strengthen the US power grid and speed up the green transition. The money, to be matched by nearly $10 billion in private financing, will flow to eight projects across 18 US states. A major focus is to create additional transmission capacity and regional connections so wind farms and other alternative energy sources can make a bigger contribution to power generation.
3: China has committed to tightening regulatory controls on three chemicals used to make fentanyl, the White House said earlier this week. This is the third such move that Beijing has made since the two countries resumed counter-narcotics cooperation last fall. Illicit fentanyl overdoses — known more broadly as “the opioid crisis” — have become a leading cause of death for American adults under the age of 45 in recent years. China is known to have subsidized the production and marketing of fentanyl precursors.