Canada needs to see more people leave the country than enter “over the next couple of years” as housing markets, health-care services and employment opportunities “catch up,” Pierre Poilievre told reporters on Monday.

“We've had population growth of roughly a million a year under the Liberals, while we barely build 200,000 homes,” the Conservative leader said during a press conference.

Starting in 2022, immigration levels soared under former prime minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government. Record numbers of immigrants and temporary foreign workers arrived in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics Canada cautioned that the sharp increase could “represent additional challenges for some regions of the country related to housing, infrastructure and transportation, and service delivery to the population,” CBC reported in 2022.

Now, Canada's job market had become “stalled, yet we are adding more people to the workforce,” Poilievre warned.

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Young Canadians are faced with “generational highs in unemployment,” Poilievre said, highlighting how “multinational corporations are giving jobs to low-wage temporary foreign workers.”

An analysis of government data by Bloomberg News revealed how dramatically the number of temporary foreign workers employed in food and retail between 2019 and 2023 — a shocking 211%.

Not only are young Canadians suffering, but the rapid pace of growth is leading to divisions among the population, Poilievre said, suggesting Canadians have become “divided” and newcomers are struggling to integrate.

Poilievre suggested Canada needs “very hard caps on immigration levels” as he called for more departures than new arrivals over the short term.

Canada's immigration system “should invite the right people in the right numbers, in a way that puts Canada and Canadians first,” the Conservative leader said.

While the Liberals, first under Trudeau and now under Prime Minister Mark Carney, have taken some measures to slow growth, federal polling suggested Canadians feel more is required.

Data collected in November 2024 found 54% of Canadians believe there are too many immigrants in the country; 34% found the number to be acceptable.

The Liberals' recent immigration plan aims to reduce permanent residents to 365,000, and temporary residents to 5% of the population by 2027 (down from 7.1%).

During the election campaign earlier this year, Poilievre called for Canada to return to immigration levels seen during former prime minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, which welcomed around 200,000 and 250,000 newcomers per year.

Nearly five million visas are expected to expire by December 2025, though it remains unclear how the Liberals plan to ensure those with expired visas depart.

“There are many ways that people leave the country,” former immigration minister Marc Miller said during debate in the House of Commons. “The vast majority leave voluntarily. That is what is expected.”