Despite record immigration numbers, Canada’s population boom may have run into a reality check, as data from July shows a huge drop has taken place in permanent resident applications.

Government data shows a 15% monthly drop in permanent resident applications and a 28% decline compared to last year, as reported by Better Dwelling. 

Moreover, the annual growth rate in the second quarter of this year was nearly half of what it was in the first quarter.

Tough economy

The Liberals have attempted to address Canada’s skilled labour shortage with record high immigration targets. 

The Express Entry program, introduced in 2015, serves as a pathway for attracting skilled labor directly to permanent residency. While it started well, it seems to have hit a roadblock.

In fact, Canada has had a 17.5% drop in Express Entry applications compared to the previous year, with just 10.2k applications filed. 

The vast majority of foreign students are also leaving Canada rather than applying for permanent residency (PR).  Only one in thirty-four foreign students are converting to gain their PR.

Housing Crisis

In a Wednesday announcement meant to tackle Canada’s growing housing crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau re-introduced funding that was already allocated towards — and factored into — the current housing supply shortage.

The Prime Minister’s housing announcement was simply a re-introduction of the Housing Accelerator Fund that was earmarked in his party’s 2022 budget. He said London is the first city that would see parts of this funding.

In June 2022, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) included this funding in their assessment when sounding alarm bells and warning the feds that an additional 3.5 million units would need to be built by 2030 to restore housing affordability.