Conservative Leader Poilievre, Housing Minister Miller Clash on Immigration

The Tory leader has said the minister’s comment on the high number of international students in Canada is a ‘vicious attack’ on his predecessor Sean Fraser.

Marc Miller arrives for a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on July 26, 2023. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre clashed on the issue of immigration over the weekend, as the Liberal government ponders whether to put a cap on the number of international students coming to Canada.

Following an interview with CTV News where Mr. Miller said the volume of international students entering Canada was “disconcerting” and that the system had “gotten out of control,” Mr. Poilievre said on X that the comment was a “vicious attack” on the previous Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s record.

Mr. Poilievre posted the comment along with a link to the CTV article on Jan. 14 saying, “Vicious attack by current Minister Marc Miller against Sean Fraser’s record as immigration minister, accusing his cabinet colleague of allowing international student numbers to run ‘out of control.’”

Mr. Miller reacted to the comment on X the same day, saying, “I can’t think of something more idiotic and immature that Pierre Poilievre could have said about such an important issue. This isn’t serious leadership.”

The number of international students in Canada has hit record levels in recent years, with government figures showing more than 807,000 study permit holders in the country in 2022, an increase of over 190,000 from 2021. At the same time, the Liberal government plans to bring in 485,000 immigrants in 2024, and 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

Nearly 1.2 million people were admitted to Canada between July 2022 and July 2023 under both permanent and temporary immigration programs, according to Statistics Canada.

Back in December 2023, Mr. Miller announced the government would double the amount of money student applicants must prove they have before acquiring a student visa—from $10,000 to $20,635, not including tuition—in effect limiting the flow of international students. He said this decision was made to “ensure that designated learning institutions provide adequate and sufficient student support as part of the academic experience.”

The immigration minister said the change would reflect a “more accurate cost of living level,” adding that it would be “a mistake” to invite students to Canada when there is not adequate housing support. Housing affordability has become a major political issue in Canada in the last year, with parties suggesting various ways to lower rent costs and spur housing construction.

More recently, Mr. Miller said he would look at the first and second quarter of 2024 at possibly setting a cap on international students to help reduce the demand for housing. “It’s time for us to have a conversation about volumes and the impact that that is having in certain areas,” he said.

Ottawa Warned of Housing Affordability Crisis

The continued debate over housing comes as documents recently obtained by The Canadian Press through an access to information request showed that Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada had previously analyzed the impact higher immigration would have on the Canadian economy in 2022.

According to the article, Ottawa was warned that population growth had “exceeded the growth in available housing units,” and that there was a “misalignment between population growth and housing supply, and how permanent and temporary immigration shapes population growth.”

When asked about the report on Jan. 12, 20204, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said immigrants are a “real driver” of Canada’s economic growth and that they are needed at a time when Canada is facing demographic challenges.

In a press conference a day earlier, Mr. Poilievre put the blame on then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, who is now the housing minister. “Sean Fraser was the minister of immigration when the government warned him that his policies were leading to housing price inflation, and now Justin Trudeau has promoted him to housing minister,” he said.

To achieve housing affordability, Mr. Poilievre said Canada needed to make a link between the “number of homes built and the number of people we invite as new Canadians.” He has also previously vowed to tie the amount of federal funding cities receive to the number of housing starts, give bonuses to cities that remove “gatekeepers” holding housing construction back, and sell 15 percent of the federal government’s 37,000 buildings to be turned into affordable homes.