Carney reinforces immigration priorities in a new mandate letter to ministers.
The mandate letter outlined two main immigration goals:
- Returning overall immigration to sustainable levels
- Attracting the best talent from around the world to help build Canada’s economy
Those two goals were represented as a single directive and were one of the top seven priorities for Canada’s cabinet moving forward.
Mandate letters are special directives given to members of the cabinet from the prime minister, which typically outline major goals, milestones, and sometimes even methods that the prime minister would like his cabinet to conform to in keeping and achieving their governmental mandate.
In the past, Canadian prime ministers have often delivered individual mandate letters to each minister. It is unclear at this time whether Carney will follow this pattern.
Returning Overall Immigration Rates To Sustainable Level
In his mandate letter, Carney reiterated the need to bring overall immigration levels down to ‘sustainable levels.’
Previously on the campaign trail, the Liberals under Carney ran on a platform of stabilizing permanent resident immigration levels, acknowledging that the previous Liberal administration had allowed immigration levels to rise at ‘unsustainable’ rates – a change which in turn had placed a strain on Canada’s housing and public services.
To address this, the Liberals previously proposed to ‘stabilize permanent admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027’.
With Canada’s population projected to be 41.5 million in 2025, the previously planned targets already fall below the 1% threshold.
According to the Plan for 2025-2027, the government aims to admit 395,000 permanent residents in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027.
Attracting The Best Talent From Around The World
As Carney reinforces immigration priorities in a new mandate letter to ministers, the letter also mentioned another theme that was previously touched on during the election, i.e., gearing the immigration system to ‘attract top global talent.’
The Liberal Party’s election platform included plans to update the Global Skills Strategy (GSS) to bring key professional talent to help build and support critical sectors of Canada’s economy.
The GSS is a federal work permit program that supports eligible Canadian companies by facilitating the hiring of skilled foreign workers. Under this program, foreign nationals can get expedited work permit processing, typically within two weeks.
The proposed changes included in the Liberal election platform contained new initiatives aimed at helping high-growth Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs bring in talent. The platform also highlights a focus on attracting highly skilled professionals from the United States.
Additionally, the party has pledged to collaborate with provinces as well as territories to speed up and improve how foreign credentials and international work experience are recognized. The goal is to help skilled newcomers enter the Canadian workforce faster and more effectively.
The Context For These Changes
The updates outlined in Mark Carney’s mandate letter build on the immigration policies introduced by former Immigration Minister Marc Miller during the final phase of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership.
During his time in office, Miller responded to rising concerns about affordability and housing by tightening both temporary and permanent immigration pathways.
Some of the key changes included:
- Setting limits on the number of new study and work permits issued each year
- Scaling back permanent resident targets to pre-pandemic levels
- Temporarily stopping new low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications in cities where unemployment is 6% or higher
- Shifting the focus of economic immigration programs to favour applicants already living in Canada
- Capping the number of new study permit applications
- Revamping the job categories used in Express Entry
- Adding language and education requirements to qualify for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP)
- Creating new permanent residency and study permit options for workers in trades and construction;
- Limiting who can get an Open Work Permit (OWP) as a family member
- Removing the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for arranged employment in Express Entry
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