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A parliamentary committee is recommending Ottawa to count all foreigners let into Canada in addition to permanent residents.

On Tuesday, the Senate social affairs committee learned the ‘true number’ of non-citizens is quadruple the official figure when counting temporary foreign workers and international students.

“Numerous witnesses agreed the Immigration Levels Plan or annual report to Parliament should include projected levels for migrant workers and international students to provide a complete and comprehensive picture of Canada’s immigration plan,” said a committee report, Act Now: Solutions For Temporary And Migrant Labour In Canada. It recommended all figures be plainly disclosed.

Most recent immigration data uncovered 471,550 permanent residents, 766,520 temporary foreign workers and 1,040,985 recipients of foreign study permits.

The Trudeau Liberals earlier considered accepting one million permanent residents annually before settling on a preliminary quota of 421,000 people for 2023, according to government documents.

Their 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan upped the quota to 465,000 newcomers. Ottawa counted 471,550 immigrants let into Canada, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

Chrystia Freeland says "diversity is our strength" and provinces need to "pull up their socks" while speaking about record-high immigration and unaffordable housing prices. https://t.co/b3ixrZkcZ2 pic.twitter.com/pFwm4uk65W

— Kian Simone (@kiansimone44) January 29, 2024

A 2020 memo forewarned current trajectories could pose serious challenges to housing, education and health service infrastructure for provinces and municipalities. Canada is on track to accept 485,000 newcomers this year, and 500,000 in each of the next two years.

“Each year the department releases its Immigration Levels Plan for the upcoming three years,” wrote senators. “The Department of Immigration bears the majority of responsibility for federal immigration planning and programming.”

Immigration officials earlier said that annual targets account for demographic and regional needs, including the labour market, humanitarian commitments, family reunification and processing capacity. But it does not typically contain targets for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The committee report noted the migrant labour program was introduced in 1973 “to bring foreign workers to Canada on a temporary basis to fill jobs for which qualified Canadians are not available.” Farmers typically use the program to import labourers from Mexico and the Caribbean on eight-month contracts.

A half-century later “it is clear the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is neither temporary nor a last and limited resort,” wrote senators.

Trudeau brags about Canada's record-high immigration numbers: "We've done a great job of integrating diversity while holding up that diversity as a sense of richness, instead of trying to make everyone into a unique identity of Canadian."https://t.co/TXq29qhTJo pic.twitter.com/R3rpo14C70

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) April 29, 2024

In the memo, the federal government considered Immigration Levels Plan to be “forward-looking” as it permitted more international students and foreign workers to apply for permanent residency.

“We are at a unique juncture in Canadian history,” then-immigration minister Marco Mendicino told reporters October 30, 2020. “We are facing the challenge of our generation, and we will meet our moment.”

On February 12, MPs demanded a review of federal immigration policy after the House of Commons adopted a non-binding Bloc Québécois motion to revise quotas. The proposal passed by a vote of 173-150.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller opposed the motion. “There is no doubt that we have made a conscious decision to be an open country and a country that needs to grow,” Miller said in a March 27 interview with U.S. National Public Radio.

“Canadians strongly disagree with the immigration policies of what is left of this government,” said Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet, sponsor of the motion. He insisted the Liberal Party “could not have cared less” about costs incurred by taxpayers.