OTTAWA – November 9, 2026
The federal government’s 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan, released with Budget 2026, holds permanent-resident admissions at 380,000 a year and new temporary-resident arrivals at 370,000 a year for the next three years. On top of those regular streams, Ottawa intends to transition up to 200,000 people already living in Canada from temporary to permanent status in 2027.
Roughly half of that one-time group is expected to move through Express Entry and provincial nominee channels focused on workers and their families. The remainder covers humanitarian and family-reunification cases, including remaining applicants from earlier Hong Kong and Ukraine pathways. The government has allocated $302 million over four years starting in 2027-28 to support the transition. A separate earlier initiative is also expected to add further admissions in 2027.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has described the overall numbers as sustainable and has pointed to reductions already achieved in asylum claims, international-student numbers and temporary foreign workers. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has rejected that assessment. He has argued that Canada cannot absorb the combined permanent-resident total next year—figures that reach roughly 660,000 when the one-time measures are included—given existing shortages of housing, health-care capacity and entry-level jobs.
Poilievre has specifically cited pressure on young Canadians who are struggling to find both work and affordable housing. Unemployment rose to 6.7 per cent in October after the economy shed 4,700 jobs, with declines in private-sector and full-time employment. The government maintains that the plan prioritizes economic immigrants already contributing inside the country and that provinces will have input on which occupations are filled.
In northwestern Ontario the picture is mixed. Several districts, including Kenora, Rainy River and Thunder Bay, participate in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot or related employer-driven pathways aimed at filling labour gaps in health care, trades and resource industries. Local employers have reported difficulty recruiting for positions that temporary residents have filled in recent years. At the same time, housing availability remains tight in Thunder Bay, Kenora and smaller centres, and health-care wait times are long across the region.
The levels plan stabilizes temporary-resident arrivals at 220,000 workers and up to 150,000 students each year through 2029. It also extends the validity of labour-market impact assessments for lower-wage jobs from one year to two years and gives provinces more say over which occupations qualify. Critics of the overall approach, including the Official Opposition, continue to argue that the cumulative effect of recent high intakes has outpaced infrastructure and that further permanent-resident admissions will compound those pressures.
Budget documents note that foreign direct investment reached high levels in 2025 and that the government expects Canada to remain among the faster-growing G7 economies. They also record that the deficit-to-GDP ratio is projected to stay comparatively low. Those fiscal points have not resolved the political disagreement over whether the immigration targets match the country’s current capacity in housing and public services.
Northern communities that have used immigration programs to address specific labour shortages will watch how the provincial nominee allocations and the in-Canada transition measure are implemented. The same communities will also continue to face the same housing and health-care constraints that Poilievre and others have highlighted at the national level. The levels plan takes effect as new municipal councils across Ontario, including those in northwestern Ontario, begin their terms later this month.
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