Housing Minister Sean Fraser says changes could be made to the country’s international student visa and temporary foreign workers program to reduce immigration amid housing shortages.
“In welcoming international students, we have a responsibility to make sure that students are supported when they come to our country,” Mr. Miller said during a press conference on Dec. 7, adding that the change would reflect a more “accurate cost of living level” and allow the students to come to the country with the “necessary resources to live and study in Canada.”
From July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, nearly 1.2 million people were admitted to Canada under both permanent and temporary immigration programs, according to Statistics Canada.
Back in August, at the Liberal cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, Mr. Fraser said cabinet “ought to consider capping student visas to reduce the demand for housing in municipalities with large student populations.” Mr. Fraser also told Global News that the federal government should focus on building more housing before considering such a cap.
Mr. Clayton also said that because Canada’s immigration is much higher relative to the United States, housing prices will continue rising as the supply shrinks. The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation has said that at current building levels, the country will be short 3.5 million homes by 2030.
Kevin Milligan, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia, said a growing population of “young, ambitious, well-trained” international students can benefit Canada. But he acknowledged that immigration numbers have put stress on many cities’ housing markets.
Mr. Milligan said he and some other economists have expressed “caution about whether we’ve gone a bit too far too fast, especially on the student visa issue and the stress it has on some areas of Canada.”
