Canada Sticks With Immigration Target Despite Housing Crunch
- New minister says targets will be kept or raised, not cut
- Soaring housing costs risk eroding support for immigration
A residential building under construction in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
Photographer: Graham Hughes/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government won’t lower its immigration targets despite growing criticism that drastic population growth worsens existing housing shortages.
In one of his first interviews a week into his new cabinet role, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the government will have to either keep — or raise — its annual targets for permanent residents of about half a million. That’s because of the diminishing number of working-age people relative to the number of retirees and the risk it poses to public service funding, he said.