NEW DELHI: The muddled Trudeau government has decided to slash its immigrant intake by about 20% from the next year so as to right-size its population.While Trudeau had earlier announced he would allow 5 lakh immigrants each in 2025 and 2026, he admitted that after the pandemic, “between addressing labour needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance right.” As per the new plan, 3.95 lakh new permanent residents will be allowed in 2025, down from 4.85 lakh in 2024. The revised targets for 2026 and 2027 are 3.8 lakh and 3.65 lakh, respectively. The announcement comes months after student visas were cut by almost 35%, as compared to the previous year. Besides, student visas were capped at 3,60,000 for two years.Cumulatively, Trudeau’s announcement is expected to affect Indians in a big way. India had around 3,19,000 students studying in Canada in 2023. The cut in student visas primarily impacted Indians, who constitute more than 41% of Canada’s international student population. In a post on X, Trudeau said, “We’re going to have fewer temporary foreign workers in Canada. We’re bringing in stricter rules for companies to prove why they can’t hire Canadian workers first.” This move is expected to complicate job opportunities for immigrants settling in Canada.As per Statistics Canada, the country had 2.8 million temporary residents, including workers and students, in the second quarter of 2024.
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