Canada’s population posted its first quarterly decline in more than five decades after tens of thousands of foreign students and migrant workers left the country when their temporary permits expired, according to new Statistics Canada figures.Blacklock's Reporter says Statistics Canada reported the national population fell by 76,068 people in the third quarter of 2025, a sharp reversal from the 418,634 increase recorded during the same period last year — the largest quarterly gain since 1957. Analysts said the drop was driven almost entirely by a steep reduction in non-permanent residents.“Estimates show the reduction in the number of non-permanent residents in Canada, down 176,479 in the third quarter of 2025, was the primary reason for the decrease in Canada’s population over this period,” analysts wrote in Population Estimates, Third Quarter. Preliminary data show every province and territory except Alberta and Nunavut recorded population losses.The decline comes as Ottawa tightens immigration and temporary resident policies. Analysts said the change reflects deliberate government action rather than an economic downturn or demographic shift. .“The population decrease was mainly due to a drop in non-permanent residents,” the report said, calling the trend the result of changing federal policies.Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the numbers were not unexpected. “I have not seen the report,” Champagne told reporters, “but we said we would revisit our immigration levels to be more in balance with our capacity to welcome people in our country.”Champagne said Ottawa must ensure newcomers can access housing, health care and schools. “When we welcome people, we have a duty to be able to offer their children to go to school, if they are sick to be in the hospital, and for them to find housing,” he said.In the November 4 Canada Strong budget, the federal government cut annual landed immigrant targets from 395,000 this year to 380,000 in 2026, a cap that will remain in place through at least 2028. Temporary permits were also slashed, falling from 673,650 this year to 385,000 in 2026 and 370,000 the following year, covering both migrant workers and international students..Champagne said cabinet moved to “take back control” of an immigration system he described as increasingly unmanageable. The government’s goal, he said, is to attract highly skilled newcomers rather than large volumes of arrivals. “We want the best scientists, the best researchers, the best talent you can find in our universities and colleges and in our businesses,” Champagne said.Despite the reductions, Statistics Canada estimates 2,847,737 foreigners remain in Canada on temporary permits, more than double the 1,361,855 recorded in 2021.“The system has evolved,” the finance department said in its outline of the annual Immigration Levels Plan. “Its complexity has grown and its efficiency has waned, and the pace of arrivals began to exceed Canada’s capacity to absorb and support newcomers in the way Canadians expect.”
