Canadians want Carney to drop Trudeau’s failed approach and bring immigration back to a level the country can handle
Canada is buckling under the weight of unsustainable immigration levels, and Prime Minister Marc Carney’s early decisions suggest he plans to keep following Justin Trudeau’s failed path.
Carney’s recent plan to bring in thousands of elderly retirees from India raises an obvious question. No disrespect is intended toward India or those retirees, but Canadians are asking how this serves their interests. Our hospitals are overcrowded, our housing market is out of reach for young families, and our social services are under immense strain. Adding more retirees will increase the pressure on already strained systems.
Many had hoped Carney would pivot from Trudeau’s disastrous policies. Instead, he appears set to double down.
Under Trudeau, housing construction lagged badly, with only about 200,000 homes built each year while the population grew by nearly a million. When nearly a million newcomers arrive each year but only 200,000 homes are built, the math simply doesn’t work.
The result was skyrocketing rents, collapsing affordability, and young Canadians watching the dream of home ownership slip away. Health care, education and other public services were swamped. The crisis Carney has inherited is severe; his early moves suggest he may only deepen it.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has given voice to what most Canadians already believe: the pace of immigration must be slowed. As he put it, “We need to ensure that more leave than come in over the next couple of years, while we catch up, while housing, health care and jobs can catch up.” That is not radical. It is common sense.
Canada is not and never has been anti-immigrant. Immigration built this country, and it will continue to do so. But immigration policy must serve the national interest, not overwhelm it.
For nearly 150 years, Canada followed a clear consensus: newcomers were welcomed in sustainable numbers, chosen for their ability to contribute, and integrated into Canadian life. That model admitted fewer people overall, prioritized skilled workers, and required language ability and proof of economic contribution. It made Canada one of the most successful immigrant societies in the world.
Trudeau shattered that consensus. In 2017, seeking to posture against Donald Trump, he tweeted that Canada welcomed anyone, anywhere, no questions asked.
They came, many through unofficial crossings such as Roxham Road, a small rural road south of Montreal that became the country’s busiest irregular entry point.
The Safe Third Country Agreement requires refugees to claim asylum in the first safe country they enter, but it applied only at official crossings, not irregular ones like Roxham Road. As a result, Canada was required to process all asylum claims made there.
Others arrived as “students” or “temporary workers,” often with limited verification of their claims. Tens of thousands entered outside the regular application process, ahead of applicants waiting abroad who had spent years preparing careful applications.
The costs are now undeniable. Services are collapsing under the strain. Housing affordability is at historic lows. Social cohesion is fraying, with growing frustration spilling onto social media.
Canadians who question policy are often dismissed as “far right,” stifling legitimate debate and ignoring the very real damage being done to their quality of life.
Carney now faces a clear choice. He can continue Trudeau’s reckless course, or he can restore the balanced immigration system that served Canada so well for generations.
He does not need to reinvent the wheel. The pre-2015 model showed that a nation can welcome newcomers generously while protecting its own social fabric. That model worked because it respected limits. A country must control its borders, carefully vet entrants, and admit only as many as it can realistically absorb.
The lesson is simple: numbers matter. Without a return to sustainable immigration levels, Canada’s health care, housing and education systems will continue to buckle, and the trust of Canadians in their leaders will erode further.
The longer we delay, the harder it will be to repair the damage. Young families already priced out of the housing market cannot wait another decade for relief. Hospitals already running at capacity cannot handle more unchecked demand.
Carney talks about being willing to pivot. Immigration is where he must prove it. Canadians are not asking for closed doors. They are asking for control, balance and common sense.
If he delivers, Canada can remain a country that welcomes newcomers while protecting the services and opportunities that make this nation attractive in the first place.
If Carney fails, the Canada we pass to our children won’t be the country we once knew.
Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
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