But November 2025’s federal budget formalized this, and doubled down on the flip flop, slashing the cap on temporary residents from 675,000 to 385,000. And more people than ever seem to approve, to view immigration broadly as a problem rather than a solution. Public attitudes that had been overall positive on immigration since the 1990s now have settled firmly into the negative. After the pandemic, immigration numbers “ratcheted up a lot,” Banerjee said, particularly for temporary residents such as foreign students and people with work permits. Much of the drop in temporary residents is coming from reduced numbers of foreign students.

Source: National Post January 09, 2026 12:21 UTC