Where do the parties stand on immigration? This consultant says recent caps left thousands 'stranded'

Desmond Brown · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

While migration mightiness not beryllium the astir pressing contented for immoderate voters up of this year's national election, a Hamilton migration advisor says whichever enactment forms government volition request to code caller migration caps. 

"I would similar to inquire them however they mean to grip each of the students and workers that came to Canada successful the past 2 to 3 years, adjacent 4 years, who were promised a pathway to imperishable residency astatine the extremity of their survey word oregon their moving term," Charlene DaSilva told CBC Hamilton.

DaSilva said radical person been near "stranded" aft the national authorities made sweeping changes to Canada's migration strategy successful caller months.

As portion of a caller migration plan, Ottawa chopped the projected fig of caller imperishable residents to 395,000 this year, an 18.5 per cent simplification from 2024. The people volition driblet further to 380,000 successful 2026 and 365,000 successful 2027, arsenic the national authorities aims for a 0.2 per cent colonisation diminution implicit the adjacent 2 years. 

The national authorities made these sweeping changes to Canada's migration strategy arsenic the country's colonisation continues to grow, reaching much than 41.5 cardinal successful October. Immigration has been a large origin successful this growth, arsenic concerns emergence implicit the expanding request for services like lodging and wellness care.

• Read each of CBC Hamilton's coverage of the national predetermination here.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the authorities expects the changes to "yield astir 300,000 less survey permits" implicit the adjacent 3 years.

'People came to Canada with axenic intentions'

Meanwhile, past September the Liberal authorities announced it would slash the fig of planetary pupil permits it issues by different 10 per cent. The authorities says the caller people for 2025 and 2026 volition beryllium 437,000 permits. In 2024, the people was 485,000 permits.

According to DaSilva, "those radical came to Canada with axenic intentions," but "thousands" of them person present been near without a wide path to go imperishable residents. 

"They person worked hard, they person studied hard, and present to enactment them successful a presumption of thing fundamentally and having to spell backmost to their countries and commencement again, I deliberation is simply a precise unfair happening to do, truthful I'm hoping that the authorities volition instrumentality immoderate benignant of policies to assistance those individuals and marque definite determination are nary disturbances," Da Silva said.

"How [do] they mean to grip those radical who person present been near stranded oregon uncovering themselves successful a presumption wherever they cannot conscionable the caller requirements to get imperishable residency?

"I would similar to cognize however they program connected handling those peculiar applicants and whether oregon not they're going to present immoderate impermanent policies to accommodate immoderate of them."

DaSilva's consultancy bureau provides enactment — including a escaped consultation — to radical considering immigrating to Canada, visiting, working, oregon studying successful Canada, including refugees. Additionally, they besides assistance clients with renewals, extensions, replacement of migration documents, appeals and hearings.

'Stricter guidelines, stricter requirements'

DaSilva said everyone successful the migration consulting concern has been affected by the changes made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

"If your concern relies upon assisting those types of applications — impermanent residents — Immigration Canada has present reduced the magnitude of impermanent nonmigratory types of applications that they are accepting," she said. 

"As it pertains to the survey permits and enactment permits, they've made stricter guidelines, stricter requirements for immoderate applicant intending to survey successful Canada oregon enactment successful Canada."

DaSilva said the changes person "definitely reduced the magnitude of clients that person made inquiries to our bureau astir those peculiar pathways. It has forced america to look astatine the aboriginal of migration successful the adjacent twelvemonth and with the caller authorities that could perchance beryllium coming in, oregon the caller premier minister.

"It has decidedly reduced the magnitude of intakes that we person had and we person shifted our absorption [from] survey licence inquiries and enactment licence inquiries to those that are already wrong Canada that person a presumption that are perchance getting adjacent to expiration and however we tin perchance assistance those radical either extend, support oregon alteration their presumption to that of a imperishable resident," she added.

CBC News has reached retired to the starring governmental parties to inquire astir their plans to code migration levels. Both the Liberal Party and the Green Party promised to supply comments but did not bash truthful by work deadline. The Conservatives did not respond to CBC's request.

NDP volition combat for students, migrant workers

Anne McGarth, a spokesperson for the NDP, says planetary students and migrant workers were promised a pathway to imperishable residency, and the Liberal authorities has breached that promise, leaving thousands successful limbo. 

"The NDP volition combat to guarantee that radical who've travel here, contributed, and built their lives successful Canada are treated reasonably and fixed a clear, achievable way to stay," McGarth wrote successful an emailed connection to CBC Hamilton.

Here's what the different parties are saying astir immigration:

Conservatives: Those who privation to travel to Canada merit a program that is clear, efficient, and compassionate. But the Liberals' grounds erstwhile it comes to migration is 1 of failure, mismanagement, and backlogs that past for years. It is unacceptable that lives and careers person been enactment connected clasp and families person been kept isolated for years due to the fact that of Trudeau's breached migration system. Conservatives judge successful a well-functioning migration strategy that promotes household reunification and allows caller immigrants to execute their dreams.

Greens: The enactment has made the pursuing promises successful their recently released platform:

• Provide yearly backing to trim processing times for imperishable residency applications and grow pathways for indispensable workers.

• Create a caller employer-driven migration programme to modulation overseas workers successful indispensable sectors to imperishable residency.

• Introduce income-based exemptions for imperishable residency and citizenship exertion fees.

• Create a constricted pathway to imperishable residency for planetary students entering occupations experiencing captious labour shortages — specified arsenic doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and different indispensable wellness attraction roles — wherever qualified Canadians are not disposable to capable the need. 

• Commit to a principled, case-by-case process for regularizing the presumption of undocumented residents — 1 that upholds Canada's humanitarian values and recognizes their contributions to our communities and economy. 

• Reduce PR exertion fees and fiscal requirements for planetary students, eliminating excessive fiscal burdens.

Liberals: According to the Liberal Party's platform, a Mark Carney-led authorities will:

• Return migration to sustainable levels by capping the full fig of impermanent workers and planetary students to little than 5 per cent of Canada's colonisation by the extremity of 2027, from a past precocious of 7.3 per cent, to easiness the strain connected housing, nationalist infrastructure, and social services.

• Stabilize imperishable nonmigratory admissions to astatine little than 1 per cent of Canada's colonisation annually beyond 2027 with a absorption connected attracting apical planetary endowment that volition thrust economical maturation and prosperity. Our migration program volition besides let for the reunification of families, portion maintaining Canada's planetary enactment successful prioritizing the world's astir vulnerable, including quality rights defenders and refugees.

• Work toward a fairer and faster process and heighten work transportation for applicants by leveraging integer work tools to trim processing times and destruct backlogs to guarantee that Canada's migration strategy is much reliable for families, businesses, and applicants.