Slim majority of Canadians found reduced immigration levels still too high: government polling
OTTAWA — Shortly after cutting immigration levels, the federal immigration department heard through government-funded polling that a slight majority of Canadians still found this year's number too high.
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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada commissioned the survey as part of its annual tracking of public sentiment towards immigration and reported it publicly as part of the government's disclosures on its public opinion research.
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The survey, which was done last November, followed the federal government's announcement that it would reduce the number of permanent residents by nearly 100,000 in 2025. The target was set at 395,000, down from 485,000 in 2024.
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The survey found that 54 per cent of Canadians said they 'felt there are too many immigrants coming to Canada.' Another 34 per cent said they felt the number was fine, according to the report.
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'When informed that Canada plans to admit 395,000 immigrants as permanent residents in 2025, 52 per cent said that it is too many, 37 per cent that this is about the right number and five per cent that this is too few,' it read.
'When informed that 395,000 immigrants is roughly 20 per cent fewer than Canada planned to admit in 2024, 44 per cent feel this is too many, 39 per cent that this number is about right and 13 per cent that it is too few.'
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A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said in a statement that work has begun on setting immigration levels for the next two years, with that plan scheduled to be tabled in the fall, as it has in years past.
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'(Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada) will continue work together with partners to establish the best paths forward to ensure that Canada is in position to attract the best talent in the world, while ensuring that overall immigration levels are more sustainable, and that the integrity of the system's programs remain in tact,' wrote Renée LeBlanc Proctor, the minister's press secretary.
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'We won't speculate about specific future policy decisions at this time, but note that work on the 2026-2028 levels plan is already underway.'
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Determining how many more permanent and temporary residents Canada will allow into the country has been challenged by changing public sentiments around immigration, connected to concerns regarding housing affordability, the availability of doctors and other social supports.
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While federal officials say immigration accounted for nearly 98 per cent of Canada's population growth in 2023, helping to offset an aging population and bringing the country's population to 41 people million last year, housing experts, economists, and the Bank of Canada all warned that it has contributed to the country's housing shortage.
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