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Terence Corcoran: Let’s bring back pro-immigration Canadianism

This is not Canada, which for much of its existence has allowed immigration to occur without detailed political interference

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According to Statistics Canada, there were 2,847,737 non-permanent residents in Canada at the end of 2025, about seven per cent of the total population of the country. That number includes 504,767 “asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups,” along with 2,342,970 who hold work and/or study permits.

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Exactly how many of the non-permanent residents would like to become citizens of Canada is unknown. The 298,128 Ukrainians who came to Canada under a special program may or may not want to return to their war-ravaged home country. Yet under Canada’s immigration bureaucracy, the current estimated wait time for approval could run upwards of 55 years.

Looming over the 2.8-million multi-ethnic collection of non-permanent residents are polling data that appear to show a growing antipathy within Canada toward immigration, despite Canada’s successful history of immigration and diversity. An Environics Institute poll released late last year found that 56 per cent of Canadians believe there is “too much” immigration, with 80 per cent of Conservatives holding that view compared with 40 per cent of Liberal and 30 per cent of NDP supporters.

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Canadian anti-immigration sentiment may not be as intense as it is in the United States under President Donald Trump. Or is that really true? A 2025 poll found that 28 per cent of Americans favoured increased legal immigration and 49 per cent support current levels of immigration. Also, 65 per cent support allowing working illegal immigrants — the people Trump plans to deport — to stay in the country and become citizens either immediately (43 per cent) or later with a penalty (22 per cent).

On the race/ethnic/diversity issue, the views of Canadians and Americans are somewhat different. Environics found that 40 per cent of Canadians feel Canada accepts too many immigrants “from racial minority groups,” while another 13 per cent have no opinion on the race issue. The U.S. poll found that 80 per cent of American’s believe diversity makes America a lot better (35 per cent), a little better (17 per cent) or no different (28 per cent).

Polls are far from definitive, although they do serve as useful background, as Canada’s immigration policies come for review in Ottawa and more generally across the country, with some provinces attempting to tackle an issue that can escalate — although one should always bear in mind that immigration ranks seventh down the list of “important problems” facing Canada, just a notch above climate change, about which only three per cent of Canadians are concerned.

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Ultimately, though, immigration policy is driven by two seemingly contradictory factors: the economics of immigration and the politics of human rights. Both factors contain complex ideas that do not lead to easy resolutions.

Economically, immigration is simultaneously seen in Canada on the one hand as an essential  generator of economic growth, but on the other hand as a job-stealing process that reduces employment among existing Canadian workers and leads to lower wages. Temporary foreign workers, asylum seekers and refugees are seen as freeloading off of government health and other programs. The Parliamentary Budget Office recently estimated that providing health care to foreign nationals working in Canada will cost governments about $1 billion this year, rising to $1.5 billion by 2030.

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These negative immigration impacts are currently driving political action. Alberta plans to hold a referendum asking voters whether they would support “charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta.” The province also wants control over who can come to Alberta.

The current excess immigrant problem largely originated under the Justin Trudeau Liberals’ deliberate federal policy of allowing millions to enter Canada as refugees, asylum seekers and other categories during the COVID lockdowns. To shift from this quasi-open-door approach, economists are calling for new national immigration strategies.

One proposal from economists at the C.D. Howe Institute, “Optimizing Immigration for Economic Growth,” outlined a controlled federal regime that aimed to “maximize GDP per capita in the full population.” The government would target high-level immigrants with specific skills who could demand higher wages. To succeed, the government would have to move gradually through a policy that begins with a focus on “economic class” immigrants that will allow the economy to begin growing at rates that will ultimately allow more lower-skilled workers to enter Canada and raise wages across the economy.

The feasibility of such a grand strategy involving much central planning is open to question. It also has the effect of turning humans into an economic commodity to be managed by Ottawa along with other products and supplies.

This is not Canada, which for much of its existence has allowed immigration to occur without detailed political interference, whether for economic reasons or to control diversity.

In an ideal world, immigration would be a matter of human rights and individual freedom. Going that far would be impossible. But moving in the other direction, toward greater control and even forced deportation, is also going too far. If there are criminals among the 2,847,737 non-permanent residents, send them back. But let the others stay in Canada if they want.

• Email: tcorcoran@postmedia.com

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