Canada will soon cut temporary work permits.
The Indian Express reports that while addressing a press conference on Thursday, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said the government would reduce the percentage of temporary foreign workers businesses can hire from 30% to 20%, except in specific sectors of the economy like agriculture.
The Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, also said they would first cut the number of temporary residents from 6.2% to 5%.
Temporary residents, like students and workers, are a significant reason for Canada’s fast-exploding population. However, the situation has raised concerns about finding enough housing and other associated services for all the new people.
Canada hosts about 2.5 million temporary residents, including asylum seekers, refugees, students, and workers.
Boissonnault wants employers to try harder to hire Canadians or refugees before looking abroad for workers. The government employers should show that they have been attempting to hire asylum seekers before bringing in someone from abroad. Miller thinks this and hiring international students could help solve the housing problem.
The Canadian government targets the number of permanent residents it will let in. However, it doesn’t do this for permanent residents, even though 42% of them are international students.
Although Canada’s population has been increasing because of immigration, and the government used to say that high immigration was good for the economy and would help with the ageing population and job shortages, some economists are now saying it is making things like housing even harder to find.
