The Canadian government is also reviewing its temporary foreign worker (TFW) program but has assured that it will not be scrapped, despite oppositional criticism.
Before a Cabinet strategy session in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, "It's part of what we are reviewing."
The review, which encompasses the overall immigration system, is trying to rebalance the overall share of temporary workers in Canada. Carney stated that the proportion "will fall from about seven per cent to date to about five per cent some years from now."
In spite of scrutiny for possible abuse and fraud, Carney emphasized that the TFW program remains essential. “We can’t just erase this programme but we can definitely improve it,” he said, noting that Canadian companies view access to the program as a high priority—second only to the tariffs imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Earlier, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre had demanded that the government abandon the TFW program entirely. "Prime Minister Carney has failed to meet his own already excessive immigration targets and now he's on track to issue the highest number of TFW permits ever in a single year," Poilievre told an audience in Mississauga.
The Conservative Party highlighted that Canada continues to bring in “record amounts of predominantly low-skilled foreign labour” even as youth employment remains at its lowest point in over 25 years outside the pandemic. They warned that an oversupplied job market is keeping wages suppressed.
The party reports that 105,000 new TFW permits have been issued in the first half of 2025 alone. "Despite a promised cap of 82,000, the Liberals are on track to issue the most TFW permits ever,” they wrote in their statement.
With just under two weeks until Poilievre returns to the House of Commons to debate Carney, the Conservative Party has turned immigration, cost of living, and crime into major issues.
In response, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said, “We have committed to returning immigration to sustainable levels, including reducing Canada’s temporary population to less than 5%.”
IRCC indicated that its data consist of new visas as well as renewals, with new visas alone standing at 33,722—42% of the yearly target.
With anti-immigration sentiment increasing in Canada, occasionally bordering on xenophobia, the large numbers of temporary employees continue to be a politically charged public issue.
Indians represented 94,010 of the 302,280 IMP work permits granted in the first half of 2025. They received 209,065 of 715,870 in 2024, a decline from 250,785 of 761,600 in 2023. Before immigration policies by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015 took effect, 21,635 Indian nationals came to Canada under the programme out of 186,005 total permits.
With regards to the TFW program per se, 16,560 Indians received visas from 105,195 issued. In 2024, 39,695 Indians were granted TFW permits from 191,270, and in 2023, 28,120 from 183,275. In 2015, Indians received only 1,955 of 72,960 permits.
IRCC has indicated that steps taken recently have seen "125,903 fewer new temporary workers arriving in Canada between January and June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024".
The government will lay out its plans for immigration over the next few years this autumn and will come under pressure to limit the arrival of newcomers.
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