PM Trudeau announces cuts to immigration numbers for next two years

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to significantly reduce the number of immigrants coming to Canada for the next two years.

This temporary measure aims to pause population growth, allowing the economy to catch up and ensuring the system works effectively for all Canadians

Trudeau shared a post on X and wrote, "We're going to significantly reduce the number of immigrants coming to Canada for the next two years. This is temporary to pause our population growth and let our economy catch up. We have to get the system working right for all Canadians."

This plan was announced during a news conference on Parliament Hill, where Trudeau was joined by Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Miller's parliamentary secretary Paul Chiang.

"The new plan will reduce the number of permanent residents arriving in Canada from 500,000 to 395,000 in 2025 and 500,000 to 380,000 in 2026. The government has set a target of 365,000 permanent residents for 2027," according to the Canada-based media channel, Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC)

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, also shared a post on X about the immigration cuts and wrote, "Today, we announced the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels plan. Immigration is essential to our country's economic success and growth. In response to the evolving needs of our country, this plan will pause population growth in the short term to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth."

In another post, he wrote, "Big drop in immigration targets will cut population and reduce the need to build more homes."

Notably, Trudeau is facing mounting pressure from within his own party, with dissident Liberal MPs giving him an ultimatum to decide his future by October 28.

In response, Trudeau said on Thursday that he will lead his Liberal Party into the next election even after two dozen of his Members of Parliament called on him to step aside, Canada-based Global News reported.

Liberal MP Sean Casey, who was one of three members of the caucus who confirmed that they signed the document calling for the prime minister to resign and termed Trudeau's announcement that he will stay on as leader just hours after MPs expressed their discontent, "disappointing."

During the caucus meeting on Wednesday, a document was presented outlining the case for Trudeau's resignation, but it didn't specify any consequences if he fails to meet the deadline.

Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has been serving as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013.