Toronto: Canada may consider capping the intake of foreign students in the country to reduce the surge in demand for housing and fix the system that has gone out of control. Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he would investigate the idea of capping the number of foreign students residing in Canada over the next few months, but he would not specify the extent of the government’s planned cut.
Miller’s comments come in at a time when the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government came under fire for accepting an increasing number of immigrants, both temporary and permanent, at a time when the nation is severely short on housing. In an interview with CTV News, Miller said the federal government will need to have talks with provincial governments “to make sure that the provinces that have not been doing their jobs actually rein in those numbers on a pure volume basis.” “That volume is disconcerting,” Miller said, in reference to the number of international students in Canada.
“It’s really a system that has gotten out of control.” A cap on international students would not be a “one-size-fits-all solution” to housing shortages across Canada, Miller noted. However, a cap on international students would not be a “one-size-fits-all solution” to housing shortages across Canada, Miller noted. Another factor is temporary residents, the majority of whom are migrant workers and international students; in fact, almost 300,000 of them entered Canada in the third quarter of last year alone.
In an effort to lessen the demand for housing, Miller stated he will investigate the possibility of imposing a cap on international students in both the first and second quarters of this year. On the number of international students coming to Canada, far outpacing the number of homes the federal government is planning to help build, Miller also said housing is only part of the calculation when it comes to immigration targets. The pressing need to bring down the average age of the workforce also needs to be taken into consideration, Miller said.
