Canada’s reliance on foreign temporary permit holders has reached staggering levels, with non-permanent residents now accounting for 18.5 percent of the entire private sector workforce, according to new figures quietly released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

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A departmental briefing note dated May 1 titled Temporary Resident Reduction pegs the number of temporary residents in Canada at 3,049,277 as of January 1, 2025. The figure includes work permit holders (1,462,893), study permit holders (643,879), those with both (347,268), family members of permit holders (163,726), and various categories of asylum claimants — including 129,653 individuals with expired permits who are in Canada illegally.

.@CitImmCanada Minister @LenaMetlegeDiab’s department counts 3,049,277 temporary residents including 129,653 now in Canada illegally due to expired permits. https://t.co/y3upf6WBNn pic.twitter.com/bagWUYL78i

— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) July 22, 2025

To put that in perspective, Canada’s entire private sector workforce in January was 16,471,600, according to Statistics Canada. That means nearly 1 in 5 jobs is now held by a temporary foreign worker or other non-permanent resident.

“While temporary residents enrich Canada’s economy and social fabric, we have committed to reducing temporary immigration growth to better align the needs of our labour market, housing supply and community capacity,” the briefing note reads.

But Rempel Garner says the numbers expose a broken immigration system that’s no longer serving Canadians.

Want to fix Canada’s jobs crisis?

Nearly 1 in 5 workers aren't Canadian. They're foreigners here on temporary visas.

This suppresses wages & takes jobs from Canadians.

The Libs must remove people with expired permits and massively curtail issuing new ones, NOW.

Bananas. 👇🏻 https://t.co/q2bSOt5kRt

— Michelle Rempel Garner (@MichelleRempel) July 22, 2025

“Want to fix Canada’s jobs crisis? Nearly 1 in 5 workers aren't Canadian. They're foreigners here on temporary visas,” said Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner in a post to X. “This suppresses wages & takes jobs from Canadians. The Libs must remove people with expired permits and massively curtail issuing new ones, NOW.”

The May 1 disclosure also confirms that 129,653 asylum claimants remain in Canada without any valid permit. That revelation follows Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s June 9 Commons appeal for those individuals to voluntarily leave the country.

Let’s call it now: Lena Metlege Diab’s reign as Immigration Minister is destined to be a catastrophic, chaotic, credibility-shredding disaster of epic proportions.

An unqualified, uninspiring, and utterly incoherent appointment — and the cherry on top?

PS: Even Liberal… pic.twitter.com/cDIcMeK1tn

— Dimitris Soudas 🇨🇦🇬🇷☦️ 13.12.1943 (@DimitrisSoudas) June 11, 2025

“When people’s visa expires they are expected to leave the country,” said Minister Diab. “But they’re not leaving the country, that’s the problem,” shot back MP Rempel Garner. “They are not leaving. She won’t tell us how many have been removed.”

When asked for a concrete plan to deal with the hundreds of thousands of undocumented residents, Diab deflected: “The Canada Border Services Agency is in charge of removals.”

A separate 2024 departmental memo titled Undocumented Migrants estimates the number of foreigners in Canada illegally — including students, visitors, and migrant workers with expired permits — could be as high as 500,000. Yet the department admitted:

“There are no accurate figures representing the number or composition of undocumented immigrants residing in Canada.”

Rempel Garner didn’t mince words in her response to the minister’s evasions.

“Does she not understand if you don’t remove people who do not have a legal right to be here, that the system is meaningless?” she asked. “Will she admit they broke the system and it’s out of control?”

So far, the government hasn’t answered. But the numbers speak for themselves — and they’re sounding alarms.