Trudeau Says Canada Has A "Massive Spike In. Immigrants"

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has seen a “massive spike” in temporary immigration that has grown at a rate “far beyond” what the country has “been able to absorb.”

The prime minister made the remarks at a housing announcement in Halifax on Tuesday.

Trudeau revealed a new $6 billion program on Tuesday called the “Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund” meant to increase new home building, as well as to upgrade existing supports like waste and water infrastructure.

A reporter asked if the government would be dialling back temporary immigration to quell the housing crisis, both in terms of affordability and supply.

Trudeau responded by acknowledging that existing policies have led to unsustainably high numbers of newcomers.

“It’s really important to understand the context around immigration. Every year we bring in about 450,000, now close to 500,000, permanent residents a year, and that is part of the necessary growth of Canada. It benefits our citizens, our communities, it benefits our economy,” said Trudeau.

“However, over the past few years we’ve seen a massive spike in temporary immigration, whether it’s temporary foreign workers or whether it’s international students in particular that have grown at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.”

“Canada’s housing supply has not kept up with growth in our population, and higher rates of immigration are widening the gap,” said Macklem while speaking at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel on Dec. 15.

Last month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a report explaining that it would take an additional 4.4 million homes to get the real estate market back to some semblance of affordability.