FIRST READING: Carney’s 'under control' immigration still blowing out the numbers - National Post

When viewed more holistically, Canada’s immigration numbers remain at all-time highs almost everywhere. Photo by Cole Burston /BloombergArticle contentFirst Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.

In a Tuesday social media post, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provided a fact sheet on “the progress we’re making to restore immigration to sustainable levels.”

The number of foreign students entering the country is down 71 per cent. The number of foreign workers is down 57 per cent. Asylum claims are down 52 per cent.

“We are restoring balance to the system and reducing immigration levels to stabilize population growth and take pressure off essential services and infrastructure,” declares an accompanying webpage.

Here are the facts on the progress we’re making to restore immigration to sustainable levels. The latest data shows that as of August 2026• We’re on track to meet our annual targets in all permanent resident categories.• The number of students arriving in Canada is down 71%…

The only problem is, the cited reductions are all pegged against the single most anomalous immigration surge in Canadian history.

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In the immediate post-COVID era, every Canadian immigration stream was blown to all-time highs. In just the two years between 2022 and 2024, the population soared by an estimated 2.2 million. It was the equivalent of adding 90,000 new people per month for 24 consecutive months.

So when Prime Minister Mark Carney and his immigration department claim that immigration has been brought “under control,” they’re often weighing the government’s performance against some of the most out-of-control immigration numbers ever charted in Canada.

When viewed more holistically, Canada’s immigration numbers remain at all-time highs almost everywhere. Some examples below:

On a federal government website entitled Key Numbers on Immigration, IRCC notes that the raw number of foreign workers entering the country is trending downwards. As recently as March 2024, 64,000 non-resident migrants entered the country on work permits in a single month. But as of August, this was down to 16,850.

This is “a clear sign that the measures we’ve put in place are working,” it states.