Minister of Housing: “Reforms in the immigration system should be on the agenda”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says unprecedented immigration and the housing crisis may require changes to both the international student visa program and the temporary foreign worker program.

His comments come as the government is reviving the World War II-era housing plan to speed up the construction of homes in Canada.

“We need to continue to reform our temporary residency programs,” Fraser told Global News in an exclusive interview.

We have seen a significant increase in the number of applications for student visas and temporary foreign worker programs in recent years.

According to Statistics Canada, from July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023, nearly 1.2 million people were admitted to Canada under both the permanent and temporary immigration programs.

Immigration Minister Mark Miller had previously announced that nearly 900,000 international students had been accepted to Canada this academic year, but last week raised the financial threshold for international students, which experts say could limit the number of students seeking to study in Canada. Canada is potentially reduced.

@parsikhabarcanada