WATCH: Poilievre shifts stance on immigration, calls for 'severe limits'
The former Tory MP declined to elaborate on his 'severe limits on population growth' statement.
Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, argues that Canada's population growth has become unsustainable, urging the Liberal government to implement further reductions in immigration levels.
"We want severe limits on population growth to reverse the damage the Liberals did to our system," Poilievre told reporters Tuesday from outside the House of Commons.
Current Liberal targets include 395,000 permanent residents, excluding foreign workers and international students. The former Tory MP declined to elaborate on his "severe limits on population growth" statement.
Before the federal election, Conservatives pledged to cap permanent immigration levels to annual housing starts, or approximately 250,000 newcomers.
Amidst falling popularity, the Liberal government will reduce permanent resident intake from 395,000 in 2025 to 365,000 by 2027. Prime Minister Mark Carney aims to maintain those immigration targets, according to Global News.
A previous plan tabled 500,000 in each of the next two years. "We didn't get the balance quite right," admitted former prime minister Justin Trudeau last October 24.
The Liberals also plan to cut temporary resident admissions from 6.5% to 5% of the population by 2026. In early 2025, hundreds of thousands entered Canada on work and study permits.
Canada saw 471,550 new permanent residents, 766,520 temporary foreign workers, and 1,040,985 foreign students immigrate in 2023.
On March 21, Poilievre attacked the Liberals for bringing on board Mark Wiseman, co-founder of the Century Initiative, a pro-immigration lobby.
Prime Minister Carney added Wiseman, a former senior executive with Blackrock, to his advisory council. "It shows that Mark Carney supports the Liberal Century Initiative to nearly triple our population to 100 million people," Poilievre told reporters at the time.
Between 2021 and 2024, Canada's population grew almost 9%, reaching 41 million by March 2024. This is the fastest population growth in over 60 years, according to Statistics Canada.
The Conservative leader continues to criticize Liberals for adopting a "radical globalist ideology" of unchecked population growth, citing strained resources, housing, and affordability.
A 2020 memo warning of serious challenges to housing, education, and health infrastructure was ignored despite foreseeing issues for provinces and municipalities.
Canada then saw a rise in the belief that immigration causes economic hardship, according to the 2024 Preliminary Report, Foresights For Human Rights.
Three in five (59%) agreed immigration has placed "too much pressure" on public services in Canada. Fewer also believe "immigrants make the country better," year over year, declining from 52% to 44%.
Months ago, Poilievre noted Conservative opposition to the Century Initiative, with a parliamentary vote to back up the claim. Opposition parties passed a non-binding motion to revise targets on February 12, 2024, but the federal government failed to act.
It urged Liberal cabinet to meet with the provinces and "consult them on their respective integration capacities."
Alex Dhaliwal
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Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
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COMMENTS
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Fran g commented 2025-06-14 14:13:15 -0400Im glad he is getting more bold, to bad he wasnt that way during the election -
Crude Sausage commented 2025-06-12 22:04:06 -0400It’s not just unsustainable; it’s a guarantee that Canadians will never be safe to walk the streets again.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-06-12 19:34:18 -0400Post-election, Pierre Poilievre is getting bold. That doesn’t bode well for his future. Let’s hope he’s more truthful when we have the next election.
