Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government could have acted faster to rein in immigration programs, after blaming “bad actors” for gaming the system.
Trudeau posted a nearly seven-minute video on YouTube on Sunday talking about the recent reduction in admissions of permanent residents to Canada and changes to the temporary foreign worker program.
Over the next two years, the flow of permanent residence will reduce by about 20 percent, to 365,000 in 2027.
In the video, Trudeau talks about the need to increase immigration after the pandemic lockdowns ended to boost the job market, and says the move helped avoid a full-blown recession.
But after that, Trudeau says some “bad actors” took advantage of these programs, such as employers trying to avoid hiring Canadians, schools recruiting more international students to pay higher tuition, or scams promising false paths to citizenship.
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Trudeau says he and his team could have acted faster once it became clear that businesses no longer needed additional job help.
Trudeau says the goal of the government’s immigration reduction is to help stabilize population growth while housing stocks recover, and then consider gradually increasing immigration rates once again.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
