The Trudeau government plans to slow its immigration strategy, as the Cabinet discusses the need to stabilize or even reduce its annual target for welcoming new permanent residents to Canada by 2026.

Amid the real estate crisis the country is experiencing, the contentious issue of setting limits on immigration to Canada has become a delicate topic of discussion around the Cabinet table these days.

According to several government sources, the hypothesis of stabilizing the immigration target for 2026 received significant support in Cabinet during discussions on this issue last week. Therefore, the immigration target for 2026 will remain the same as the target for 2025, which is 500,000 new permanent residents per year.

If this option is realized, this number will represent a temporary halt in the increase of immigration targets to Canada, which has been steadily rising in recent years.

Opinions on this topic are divided. Ministers also discussed around the table the option of reducing the target to below 500,000 migrants, but no final decision has been made yet.

The final decision must be reviewed by a ministerial committee and may be presented again to Cabinet next Tuesday, where the official announcement will be made on November 1st.

According to the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the immigration target for 2023 is 465,000 migrants, 485,000 for 2024, and 500,000 for 2025.

In 2022, Canada welcomed over 431,000 new permanent residents, a record number.

The housing crisis in Canada has brought the immigration issue into consideration, as economists say Ottawa should lower its immigration targets while meeting housing supply to domestic demand. At the same time, the business community is calling for bringing in more immigrants to offset labor shortages.

Views in Cabinet vary. Some call for a reduction, while others advocate for the status quo. According to some sources, increasing the targets will not be one of the options.

At the same time, the source acknowledged that due to the housing shortage affecting Canada and the provinces' ability to integrate and provide all services to newcomers, it is difficult to expect an increase in immigration. They added that we will not exceed what we have already promised.

According to another liberal source, the government needs to find a balance to maintain Canadians' trust. This source mentioned that the population must remain open to immigration. They added, "We have been very generous."

Radio Canada consulted more than six elected liberal officials familiar with the discussions, but they preferred to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak publicly.

In August, Mark Miller, in one of his first interviews as Minister of Immigration, rejected the idea of lowering the immigration targets set by the Canadian government. In an interview with BNN Bloomberg, he indicated that he does not see a scenario where we could reduce those targets. He added that the needs are very great, referring to labor shortages and an aging population. However, he did not dismiss the idea of stabilizing it at the current level or increasing it.