Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner is demanding the federal government sharply cut immigration targets in its upcoming levels plan after Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will eventually resume a “controlled increase” in population.“Immigration levels need to go way, way, way down,” Rempel Garner told reporters.The Calgary Nose Hill MP’s comments followed Carney’s Sept. 23 interview with the New York Times, in which the prime minister said his government had brought the immigration system “under control” and was beginning to consider when population growth should increase again.Carney did not announce a new immigration target or a date for an increase. The federal government is required to release its next immigration levels plan, covering 2027 through 2029, by early November.“What number would be acceptable?” a reporter asked Rempel Garner.“For the last decade I feel like Liberals have played immigration level bingo where they pick these wildly high targets,” she replied.“Immigration levels need to be set in accordance with the country’s capacity to house people, to provide health care and provide jobs for everybody.”Rempel Garner said Canada “cannot sustain the immigration levels that we have.”“The Conservative Party of Canada will vigorously oppose any effort by Prime Minister Carney and his Liberal government to increase immigration and continue their reckless immigration policies,” she said.“We will also continue to press for major decreases of immigration levels. Conservatives expect immigration levels to be set much, much lower in the upcoming Immigration Levels report.”Rempel Garner said immigration has outpaced the country's ability to provide housing, health care and employment.“That’s because Liberals keep allowing too many people in, too fast,” she said.“To have the Prime Minister go to a foreign news outlet and announce a potential immigration increase on the horizon without discussing housing, health care and jobs is just irresponsible.”Carney told the New York Times that the rapid growth of Canada's temporary resident population had placed pressure on housing and education.He said international student arrivals had fallen 60%, temporary foreign worker arrivals were down 50% and the flow of asylum seekers had dropped by about one-third.“We have it under control,” Carney said..Statistics Canada estimated non-permanent residents represented 6.7% of Canada's population as of July 1. Ottawa has been working toward reducing temporary residents to 5% of the population by the end of 2027. Carney said Canada's population and labour force cannot continually shrink without consequences for overall economic growth. “Now the question starts to become, when do we resume some controlled increase in the population, which is the nature of Canada?” Carney told the New York Times. “So that will happen, and we just want to make sure we’ve got it under control.” The federal government had previously planned to increase permanent resident admissions to 500,000 annually before reversing course following rapid population growth and mounting pressure on housing and public services. Current targets call for 385,000 permanent resident admissions in 2026, followed by 370,000 in both 2027 and 2028. The C.D. Howe Institute's immigration council has also recommended further reductions, proposing permanent resident admissions of about 380,000 in 2027 before falling to 340,000 by 2029. The council has argued immigration levels should be tied more consistently to Canada's population and its capacity to absorb newcomers. Carney's government has not yet disclosed what targets it will set in the upcoming 2027-29 immigration plan.
