We must signal the end of the open bar of temporary immigration.
Categorical judgment for an increasingly blatant political problem.
However, this time it is neither the PQ nor the CAQ that is demanding this. It was the Federal Minister for Immigration who said this in an interview with the CBC.
For a government that has mastered the art of demonizing anyone who criticizes its immigration policies, the about-face is spectacular.
The liberals have no choice. Their political survival depends on it.
Real estate crisis
It must be admitted that Minister Marc Miller is in a very bad situation.
Last week we learned that the government was warned two years ago that a meteoric rise in new arrivals would worsen the housing crisis. However, this did not stop the country from welcoming 500,000 permanent residents in 2025.
But that is not all. Ottawa has completely lost control of students and temporary foreign workers. According to the minister's own statements, there is no target.
In 2023, 800,000 of them will arrive in the country. That's 200,000 more than in 2022.
Canada has never experienced such rapid population growth since 1957.
Re-election
Whatever Trudeau government ministers say, in 2023 it is impossible to separate immigration from the housing crisis.
There is almost unanimous agreement among the country's experts and economists.
Furthermore, Pierre Poilièvre finally plunged into the fray, no longer fearful of unsettling the vote of cultural communities in the suburbs that would be crucial to a possible victory.
“We have to make a connection between the number of houses built and the people we invite,” he said on Friday.
Common sense, some would say.
Listening to Minister Marc Miller, even the Liberals seem to have finally calmed down.
This shows that electoral constraints can sometimes overcome the most stubborn dogmas.