Newcomers 'being cut loose' by federal immigration changes, some Islanders say
Stephen Brun | CBC News | Posted: October 27, 2024 8:05 PM | Last Updated: October 27
Ottawa is slashing projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 to 395,000 next year
Some people on Prince Edward Island say newcomers are "being cut loose" by the federal government's most recent reduction in immigration targets.
Last week, Ottawa announced it is slashing the projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 to 395,000 in 2025, with further cuts to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.
Under the previous plan released last November, Canada was to admit about 500,000 people in both 2025 and 2026.
The feds say the new plan will stabilize population growth and relieve pressure on the housing market.
But to Josie Baker, executive director of P.E.I.'s PEERS Alliance, the federal government is talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to the rights of a vulnerable migrant population.
"We have seen migrant workers and also international students framed as both victims and somehow responsible for the housing crisis," said Baker, who signed an open letter on behalf of the alliance against the cut to immigration levels.
"There is a framing of restricting the folks who have been bolstering our economy, bolstering our food industry, bolstering many of the lower-paying jobs in our society… and these folks are now kind of being cut loose."
The new plan will cause a 0.2 per cent population decline over the next two years, according to the federal government. It added the plan will also "reduce the housing supply gap by approximately 670,000 units" over the next few years.
In March, Statistics Canada reported that the country's population grew faster in 2023 than it has at any time since the 1950s.
Statistics Canada said 97.6 per cent of that growth was the result of immigration, with just under 472,000 immigrants settling in the country last year and the number of temporary residents — mostly foreign workers — rising by around 805,000.
'We don't want to turn our back'
The City of Summerside has seen that growth first hand over the past decade or so.
Mayor Dan Kutcher said the population boom does present problems for municipalities like his, but there are also many positives to immigration.
"I don't think anyone's going to be able to sustain the type of growth that we've had here in the last seven to nine years … continuously. That would just be impossible," Kutcher said Sunday on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live.
"But at the same time, that growth has filled some really big missing gaps in our community. It's certainly created some wonderful, fantastic opportunities."
Kutcher pointed to the city's aging population, and its need for younger health professionals to help care for that older demographic, as one example of immigration's benefits.
There have been almost 8,000 immigrants to P.E.I. in their 20s since 2015. More than 5,000 non-permanent residents currently on the Island are in that age range.
"We do need to get younger. We've tried to build our city and focus on supporting young working families and young workers in order to have the people in the labour force there to take care of our older adults as they age," Kutcher said.
"We need to continue to get more housing built, we need to continue to keep up to our infrastructure needs, but we don't want to turn our back on all the benefits that have been there as well."
'A lazy argument'
Under the federal government's new plan, more than 40 per cent of new permanent residents next year will be drawn from the pool of temporary residents already living in Canada.
The plan also emphasizes bringing in more skilled workers. It draws more than 62 per cent of new permanent residents from the economic stream, especially the health sector and the trades.
Ryan MacRae, the migrant worker program co-ordinator with the Cooper Institute on P.E.I., said the federal government seems to have "done a 180" on its immigration views.
He said crises in areas like housing and health care are not the fault of migrants, but rather shortsighted federal and provincial policies.
"It's a lazy argument whenever we say we're going to cap immigration numbers. There's so many more issues that have to be addressed," MacRae said.