Most of his remarks to reporters were about foreign students.
“It’s clear that that does put pressure on the system and particularly our housing needs,” he said.
Temporary foreign residents enter Canada through various routes, including as international students, who then gain postgraduate work permits to stay on, or as temporary agricultural workers. Ukrainians fleeing war also fall under that category.
He said the number of temporary immigrants has “skyrocketed” recently and cited the Statistics Canada count 313,000 non-permanent residents, most of them coming under work or study permits. Canada’s population increased by a record 430,000 during the third quarter this year.
