Last week the magazine Toronto Life published an interview in which Prime Minister Mark Carney stated “Toronto is the best of Canada because it is all of Canada in one place. Virtually half the people in the GTA were born outside the country and you wouldn’t know it because they quicky become Canadian.” The prime minister’s observation is reflective of the Liberals’ exorbitant emphasis on immigration. As the last few weeks have revealed, there is no end to the Liberals’ immigration plans for Canada.
Carney’s assessment of Toronto as a model city due to its immigrants is not shared by its residents who are evenly divided 50-50 on whether new immigrants are having a positive effect; in the GTA, 57 per cent of residents disagree that immigrants are having a positive effect, according to an October Canada Pulse poll. Carney proved equally offside to Canadians’ sentiments when he gushed before a Muslim audience at an Eid al-Adha celebration, “Muslim values are Canadian values.”
The Liberals’ implementation of less-restrictive, more-accommodating immigration policies is a central debate in Parliament. For example, last month MPs voted for the health committee to begin an investigation of immigrants’ impact on Canada’s health care system. Conservative MP Dan Mazier put the committee study into context, “Canadians are paying the price for the Liberals’ out of control immigration policies. Let me be clear, immigration is important to our country, but the government must have control over it.” This week, Mazier had the opportunity to ask the immigration minister how many more immigrants Canada’s health care system support could support, to which Lena Diab laughed and sputtered, “that’s not a fair question for immigration.”
In their respective health committee testimony, both Diab and Health Minister Marjorie Michel conceded that the government does not consider Canada’s health care capacity when factoring the country’s annual immigration intake.
In conjunction with the release of the federal budget, Diab released the government’s new immigration schedule, and she was extensively quoted, claiming: “We are taking back control.” The budget document contained the printed statement: “We are taking back control over the immigration system. The system has evolved. Its complexity has grown and its efficiency has waned. In recent years the system became even harder to manage and less functional, and the pace of arrivals began to exceed Canada’s capacity to absorb and support newcomers in the way we are used to doing.”
The subsidized legacy media news headlines declared, “Canada slashes temporary immigration targets in Budget 2025.” However, when looking at the fine print of the budget, temporary resident numbers may be scheduled to decrease, but the planned intake of permanent immigrants from 2025 through 2027 will nudge upward from the Trudeau government’s targets. In this three-year period more than one million new permanent residents will be ushered into Canada – that is more than double the population of the Niagara Region.
Still, it may be best to accept the government’s numbers as guidelines, not hard targets. Conservative immigration shadow minister, Michelle Rempel Garner, has been vocal in drawing attention to the fact that the government indicated in 2025 it would cap the number of people entering Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program at 82,000, but it is already registering 105,000 foreign workers this year. Under another initiative, the International Mobility Program, the 2025 target was to be capped at 285,000, but after six months it is at 302,000.
Rempel Garner explained in a revealing Juno News interview with Alexander Brown that the Carney government has “absolutely cooked the books on numbers.” She cited the fact that today temporary foreign residents in Canada are over seven per cent of the country’s population, well above the traditional less-than-two per cent level of the pre-Trudeau years. There are already over three million temporary residents in the country and that does not count the over 500,000 undocumented people or the 300,000 asylum seekers. Rempel Garner also pointed out that there is no government plan to remove temporary residents once their visas have expired.
Furthermore, the 380,000 permanent resident immigration government target is not a true number according to the Conservative MP. Rempel Garner claims the Liberals’ annual intake number is actually 528,000 when one factors in both 33,000 grandfathered temporary foreign workers and 115,000 “Protected Persons.” So, in 2025-27, the Carney government is accepting into Canada more than triple the population of the Niagara Region as permanent residents.
Rempel Garner’s math is consistent with the government’s official numbers. Consider that Blacklock’s Reporter made public an immigration department briefing note that counted 3,049,277 temporary residents currently in Canada, including more than 129,000 who are illegally here with expired permits. The federal department also states that foreigners on temporary permits are now the equivalent of 18.5 percent of Canada’s private sector workforce. Immigration deputy minister Harpreet Kochhar confirmed to MPs in a parliamentary committee that there are as many as 500,000 foreigners in Canada illegally (though the government does not keep specific data). Also, a senior Canada Border Services Agency official revealed the agency approximates that there are 30,000 foreigners awaiting deportation (though they do not know where they might currently reside in the country).
In concert with Diab’s management of more than three million temporary foreign residents is her Liberal colleague, Brampton MP Amandeep Sodhi who is petitioning the government to grant federal aid and permanent residency to foreign students and migrant workers facing departure or deportation. Sodhi states the government should provide funding “for temporary residents facing status insecurity and distress,” and “prioritize the needs and futures of temporary residents already contributing to Canada before expanding new admissions from abroad.”
In other recent immigration news from Ottawa, Diab has stated she has ended a requirement for refugees in Canada to undergo a medical exam when applying for permanent residency, effective immediately, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. Immigration regulations previously required refugee claimants to undergo X-rays and blood tests to “indicate their health condition is not likely to be a danger to public health.” Diab has done away with this health check.
Earlier this month the Liberals pushed a significant piece of immigration-related legislation through the House of Commons: Bill C-3 – An Act to amend the Citizenship Act. This legislation will effectively change citizenship law so that Canadians born outside the country can pass their citizenship on to future generations. In other words, a baby no longer needs to be born on Canadian soil to be considered a citizen. Those who have Canadian citizenship, who may no longer reside in Canada, can pass along their citizenship children and their grandchildren.
In the final debate before it passed the House of Commons, Rempel Garner criticized the Liberals’ desire to extend Canadian citizenship, “Without national identity, integration is impossible and the collapse of our country is inevitable. We need to put more value on Canadian citizenship.” Now that the legislation is being debated in the Senate, Conservative Senator Leo Housakos has taken up the argument, stating, “Citizenship is being diluted as we chase Canadians of convenience with no regard for capacity, cohesion, or shared purpose.” As was the case with the Liberal MPs, the Liberal-appointed Senators in the Upper Chamber seem resolved on passing this legislation, and it may be law by Christmas.
Canadians may ask how it is that the Carney Liberals are so intent on loosening the immigration laws and finding new ways to increase the numbers of immigrants brought annually into the country. The answer lies in the Prime Minister’s Office where Prime Minister Mark Carney’s inner circle of advisers are champions of the Century Initiative, which advocates for a Canadian population to grow to 100 million people through immigration. Mark Wiseman, former Blackrock executive and currently key advisor to the prime minister, was the co-author of the Century Initiative report. The prime minister’s chief of staff Marc-Andre Blanchard was the country’s former ambassador to the U.N., who oversaw Canada’s signature onto the U.N. Migration Pact, a treaty that facilitates easier movement of refugees and asylum seekers. Together, they are orchestrating the Liberals’ immigration policies.
And there is so much more to report about the Liberals’ immigration plans for Canada – but this accounting will need to carry over into my next Niagara Independent column.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
