Conservatives are urging Ottawa to cut permanent resident admissions in its next immigration plan, track temporary residents leaving Canada and work more closely with provinces. The demands, set out by immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner, are proposals for the next plan, not changes to current admission rules.
Background: Pierre Poilievre Proposes Cutting Canada’s Immigration to 250,000 a Year
The party also wants the government to put more weight on integrating newcomers. Rempel Garner blamed federal policies for rising anti-immigrant sentiment and argued that integration could help rebuild public trust.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government “will not budge” from its aim of bringing immigration to sustainable levels. He said the plan is “getting them to that level now.”
Ottawa is expected to provide an updated levels plan in the next few weeks. Immigration Minister Lena Diab did not answer reporters’ questions about the update as she entered a weekly Liberal caucus meeting.
| India | China | ROW | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EB-1 | Feb 01, 2023 | Aug 01, 2023 ▲31d | Current |
| EB-2 | Nov 01, 2013 | Oct 01, 2021 | Apr 01, 2025 ▲90d |
| EB-3 | Jan 22, 2014 ▲21d | Jan 22, 2022 ▲14d | Jun 15, 2024 ▲31d |
| F-1 | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d | Jan 22, 2021 ▲366d |
| F-2A | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d | Oct 22, 2026 ▲30d |
The existing plan gives no specific number for the reduction Rempel Garner wants. She has not proposed a replacement target, saying immigration levels should reflect the country’s capacity to provide services, housing and jobs.
The current targets were included in Budget 2025 and set out in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada materials tabled in Parliament. The plan assigns separate totals to temporary and permanent residents:
| Resident category | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary resident target | 385,000 | 370,000 | 370,000 |
| Permanent resident target | 380,000 | 380,000 | 380,000 |
The existing plan sets different targets for temporary and permanent residents
The permanent-resident figure is 380,000 a year across all three years. The temporary-resident target falls from 385,000 in 2026 to 370,000 in 2027, then stays at that level in 2028. The government has also set hard caps on some streams, including a 43 per cent reduction in the number of temporary residents it plans to admit this year.
Those targets sit alongside goals for the population mix. Ottawa aims to bring non-permanent residents below 5% of the population by the end of 2027, and to keep permanent resident admissions under 1% of the population beyond 2027. The plan forecasts permanent residents at 0.9% of the population in 2028.
The plan also sets population, language and transition goals
The plan sets a goal for Francophone immigration to reach 12% by 2029. Its permanent-resident targets for Francophone admissions are 9% (30,267) in 2026, 9.5% (31,825) in 2027 and 10.5% (35,175) in 2028. Economic immigration is set to make up 64% of the plan by 2027, the highest share in more than a decade.
It also provides one-time pathways for approximately 115,000 Protected Persons already on a route to permanent residence to transition in 2026 and 2027, along with some temporary workers. Separately, two programs in the plan are intended to give permanent status to more than 130,000 temporary residents, who are not counted in the broader permanent-resident target.
The temporary-resident targets include worker and student arrivals. Worker targets under the International Mobility Program and Temporary Foreign Worker Program are 230,000 in 2026 and 220,000 in both 2027 and 2028. Workers account for approximately 60% of temporary-resident arrivals; new student arrivals are set at 155,000 in 2026 and 150,000 in each of the following two years, about 40% of new arrivals.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reported 278,900 fewer new worker and student arrivals between January and August 2025 than in the same period a year earlier. The current targets also come as population growth slows.
Recent population figures frame the dispute over the targets
Statistics Canada estimates show population growth of half a percentage point from July 2025 to July 2026. The agency estimates that the number of temporary residents fell by roughly 154,000 over that period, the largest decrease in that population since the early 1970s.
Carney has said he is discussing immigration levels with provincial governments, including how newcomers should be distributed across the country and the economy. His comments followed an Alberta referendum in which just over a million Albertans voted yes to a question calling for more provincial control over immigration policy. About 53 per cent voted yes.
Carney and Poilievre both point to provincial pressure
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberals had let immigration run “totally out of control.” He argued provinces should have more control over immigration numbers because they provide services to newcomers. Carney, meanwhile, has described sustainability as the government’s goal.
Rempel Garner had called for targets to go “way down” after Carney raised the possibility of increasing them. She did not name a level her party would accept. Instead, she said the pace should match capacity in housing, health care, jobs and public services.
Carney has also said the government is getting the system under control and that the question will be when to resume “some controlled increase in the population.” Rempel Garner said it was irresponsible for him to discuss a possible increase without addressing housing, health care and jobs. Carney had mentioned housing pressure and said population growth was slowing.
The new plan is due by next month. Its targets will show whether the government keeps the current annual permanent-resident level or adopts a lower one.
