The Trudeau Liberals announced that despite the housing affordability crisis, they will continue smashing immigration records. 

New Immigration Minister Marc Miller made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.

“Canada intends to maintain it’s targeting of welcoming 485,000 thousand new permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025,” he said.

“Starting in 2026 the number of newcomers we aim to welcome will stabilize at 500,000.”

Miller further said that packing in so many immigrants will allow Canada to “bring in the skills and talent needed to fill the labour gaps, and ensure Canada’s economic prosperities help families reunite and remain a leader in refugee resettlement.” 

The Immigration Minister acknowledged that increased immigration impacts the pressure on affordable housing. But Miller said the issue “isn’t a linear equation between the numbers coming in and the actual housing needed.” 

“It’s a lot more complicated than that,” he later added.

Immigration linked to housing crisis

In September, documents obtained by The Counter Signal reveal that Trudeau was informed by the Secretary of the Cabinet, Janice Charette, that his immigration policy was directly causing the country’s housing affordability crisis.

In a classified memorandum dated June 24, 2022 and addressed directly to Justin Trudeau, Canada’s top bureaucrat placed the blame for the Canadian housing crisis squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister’s immigration policy.

“The purpose of this note is to provide you with an analytic summary of the report’s findings,” Charette began.

“There is broad agreement among experts that homebuilding has been insufficient in comparison with housing demand in recent years, particularly with the increase in immigration since 2015,” she said.

In 2022, Canada took in more newcomers than ever before, with 431,645 new permanent residents. The year prior, Canada also set a record, with 401,000 newcomers.