MONTREAL — Liberal leader Mark Carney on Wednesday night told French-language viewers the immigration system put in place by his predecessor “isn’t working.”
“Our population has gone up at about 3% per year because of immigration. That’s why we need to have a cap for a certain period of time,” said Carney at the leaders’ debate in Montreal.
The topic of immigration has been omitted from Thursday night's English-language debate.
The Trudeau Liberals on October 24 tabled an Immigration Levels Plan, per Blacklock’s Reporter, that would cut annual quotas for new landed immigrants from 471,550 annually to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.
“The targets set by your predecessor Mr. Trudeau, you would bring them down further?” asked a moderator.
“Well, there are some challenges,” replied Carney.
“We will maintain the cap on immigration for certainly a couple of years so that we can increase our capacity to welcome newcomers.”
He did not elaborate.
“We need to have a cap on all types of immigration for a certain amount of time so we can increase our capacity to welcome newcomers to Canada, including in housing,” said Carney.
“Would you say the immigration system in Canada went off the rails in the last seven or eight years?” asked the moderator.
“Well, yes,” replied Carney.
“The system isn’t working.”
The debate moderator, CBC anchor Patrice Roy, told candidates there were more than 500,000 Haitians in the United States who faced deportation.
“Would you accept these Haitians into Canada or not?” he asked.
“This is a question of humanity,” replied Carney.
“But there are limits. We have to be human but we have to be realistic. Canada cannot accept everyone.”
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre described the immigration system as “out of control.” Quotas should be linked to housing capacity, he said.
“We have to fix the damage Liberals have caused with an out-of-control immigration system,” said Poilievre.
“I think we should go back to immigration levels that are such that the population never grows faster than the number of housing starts, jobs or healthcare services that are available.”
A previous Conservative cabinet, in its last full year in 2014, set quotas that allowed 260,411 landed immigrants into Canada.
Figures on landed immigrants do not include other large foreign populations let into Canada on permits. The Department of Immigration estimated in 2023 the number of foreigners in Canada totaled 2.3 million including 1,040,985 foreign students, 766,250 migrant workers and 471,550 landed immigrants.
The number of foreigners in Canada illegally mainly due to expired permits was estimated as high as 500,000.
