Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said record immigration could exacerbate existing pressures on the housing market, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “What is the department doing to ensure the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is not exacerbating the current housing shortage in Canada?” said ESDC in a memo. “Higher immigration levels as well as the increasing rate of temporary foreign workers may exacerbate existing pressures within Canada’s housing market.”However, ESDC called the entry of these workers “necessary to ensure that Canada’s economy remains resilient in the face of ongoing labour shortages.” “The agriculture sector in particular is vitally important to Canada’s food security,” it said. It counted 226,693 temporary foreign workers in Canada, including 88,318 migrant farmworkers. At the moment, 38% of approved positions for temporary foreign workers were required to provide accommodations for their workers. “An additional 38% are at a minimum required to ensue adequate accommodation,” it said.“Housing must be considered suitable and affordable.”In 2022, ESDC approved 86,877 new requests from employers for migrant work permits. It said it was “an increase of over 66% compared to the previous year.”The migrant labour program is in addition to 805,000 foreign students in Canada and a quota of 485,000 new immigrants this year. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) indicated in a study a majority of Canadians questioned the feasibility of housing foreigners.“Gaps identified included more support finding housing,” said IRCC. One participant said immigration was too much, too fast. Another participant noted Canada is in a housing crisis. “Participants said their communities need to plan for accommodating more immigration and more permanent residents,” said IRCC. “They pointed to a variety of things they saw around them today that they felt were not working well and need to be addressed, including housing shortages.”Secretary of the Cabinet Janice Charette warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2022 his immigration policy since taking office in 2015 triggered Canada’s housing affordability crisis.READ MORE: Leaked memo shows Trudeau warned immigration would cause housing crisisCharette blamed him for Canada’s escalating housing prices and severe housing shortage.Trudeau’s response was to ignore the warning and announce he would bring in more immigrants.
